


Cephalove: A Splatoon 2 Fanfiction (Lucas x Marina)

by FanficaMan



Series: The Lucas Splattington Universe [1]
Category: Splatoon, Splatoon 2
Genre: Contains fetishes, F/M, First story, Henry - Freeform, Splatoon - Freeform, True Love, lucas - Freeform, marina - Freeform, pearl - Freeform, splatoon 2 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-06-26 08:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15659898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanficaMan/pseuds/FanficaMan
Summary: MusicaMan presents... FanficaMan! My first story is, awww, a love story (kinda cringy tho). The reason I wrote this story is because I honestly do not believe that Pearl and Marina are girlfriends. I've always thought they were bffs, and even after Octo Expansion, I still think they are! But I still respect the opinions of people who think pearlina is canon, so it’s all good. Also, I've always wanted to make up this little fantasy where I ship my inkling OC, Lucas, with marina, while pearl and marina are the best of friends! okay now for the actual story! Lucas has always had an attraction to Marina, and little does he know that she feels the same for him (how sweet!) Sooner or later, they meet up. Their relationship starts out small, but over time, they grow deeply in love. But little do they know that the time they spend together might be cut short, as for one of them, ohhh they oughta be writing their will! Is someone really gonna die?! Or will the love of the two protect each other for their lives?





	1. Blushes

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place between the near-end of Solo Mode and the Beginning of Octo Expansion, that is all. Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas has always had a crush on Marina, but little did he know, she had a crush on him too! Now the time has come where they finally meet together...

Lucas Splattington was your average, everyday inkling. His friends would describe him as kind, funny, cool, and overall he's a pretty great guy! He first moved to Inkopolis Square when he was about 18. Now he’s almost 19, and he's grown to love it, and he loves a lot of things. He loves his family (of course), his friends (he's straight btw, if you didn't find that out earlier), ink battles, video games, and he loves music! Fun fact, he was actually inspired by the squid sisters (reminds you of octo expansion doesn't it?)! He didn’t know who they were at first, but eventually, he listened to their music. Their songs inspired him to get more into music, and even write his own.

Sometimes he would just be in his room, playing his keyboard, writing ideas for songs and just enjoy himself. He’s always wanted to be a musician and would love for it to become a reality. With all the love and support he gets, it might as well be a reality. He became a video game designer too because he loves video games as well. That was his #1 choice for a job when he graduated high school. Even though he doesn't do much, being more of an intern, it's still enough for him to get money and be happy. He’s a very kind person and loves to meet new people. He enjoys shopping for new gear and weapons for him to show off his style.

His looks were relatively average. He had greenish-grayish eyes and orange-ish skin. He was a bit taller than the average inkling, about 175 centimeters. His go-to outfit was a Squidvader Cap, a Takoroka Nylon Vintage, and a pair of Orange Arrows. His eyes may be an ordinary color, but there was something about them that made it so different. His eyes had a sort of triangle shaped sparkle in the corner. It actually runs in his family, who’s species have evolved from the firefly squid, yet he’s very tall! The rest of him may still look a little average, but he's got that aura that makes him so great!

Okay, what else... um, oh! Let me tell you his stats! He's a level 36 (at the time when this was first written) and his highest rank is A- (he's good but not THAT good). He also takes Salmon Run very seriously (while still having fun), after all, he IS a profreshional. His main goal when moving to Inkopolis Square was to find a good paying job and I have fun, luckily, Salmon Run, ink battles, and designing video games at Ancho-V Games fit that description well!

Now, there's one more thing you need to know about him. Okay, don't tell anyone, but he is Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon! He needs to keep that identity a secret, so zip it! But, that's not the only secret he's keeping. He also has... a secret crush! (Oooooh!)

He's always had an attraction towards Marina, the second member of the hit band in town, Off the Hook, and he's not wrong. Everyone was attracted to her, really. Whether it was her pretty face, her heavenly voice, her unzipped shirt, her exposed midriff, or the fact she wears her pants low. Whatever the reason, everyone loved her, not just for her looks, but for her fun and loving personality. Yep, everyone loved her... especially Lucas. The first time he saw her, he immediately fell in love, his hearts pounding with passion. Every day after that, he would walk by the window, wave to her (and Pearl, the first member of the band), and they would always wave back. It made him happy each time, but little did he know... Marina has been getting a crush on him too! (WOOOAH!)!

Now let me tell you how they first met, it's a funny story, actually! It's was a week since Lucas first moved to the place. He was on his way to Ye Old Clothe Shoppe since he was finally fresh enough for a new shirt when he was interrupted by the sound of screaming fans. He went over to see a group of inklings jumping up and down, who seemed to be surrounding something. Lucas moved closer to see that they were surrounding Pearl and Marina, begging for autographs.

He was star struck at the sight of Marina, who held up her hands in a "hold up" sort of manner and said, "We'll get everyone's autographs!" There were only 10 people in the crowd (including Lucas), so it would be quick. Pearl and Marina sat at a nearby table, and the inklings all formed a line, with Lucas in the back. When he finally reached the table, he could barely move, he was so anxious, but not anxious enough to not talk. "H-H-Hi," he said, holding out a piece of paper, "C-Can I have your autograph?"

"Sure," said Pearl and Marina at the same time, and they signed the paper (they had their own pens, they always come prepared!). When they were done, Lucas took the paper and said, "T-Thanks!" He walked back, and when he was out of their sight, he yelled to himself! "Ah, stupid stupid stupid! Pull yourself together man! You can't just stutter like that, you'll seem like a weirdo! Alright... just calm down, you'll do better next time. At least you got an autograph-" it was just then when he realized he had successfully gotten an autograph. He yelled, "WOOHOO!!" He couldn't be happier. He didn't notice, however, the two girls talking about him behind his back.  
"Pfff," said Pearl, "what a weirdo!"  
"Oh be quiet!" said Marina, "he's probably new here, so of course, he's gonna seem weird at first. He actually seems kinda nice..."

This was like about 38 weeks ago, though. Throughout the rest of the time, the two have been growing bigger crushes. Like one time, Pearl and Marina were going to get food at the Crust Bucket when they were caught by the eyes of another group of fans, and when they started chasing them, they quickly went into their squid/octopus forms and hid under a table (They've been through this several times and were growing tired). The crowd stopped running and they started looking everywhere for them. Lucas saw the whole thing and knew they were in trouble, so he went closer to the crowd, pointed towards Grizzco Industries and said, "Hey! I think they ran that way!" Lucas didn't think it would work, but it did, and the crowd went in that direction.

Lucas bent over to look under the table when the crowd was gone. He could see Pearl and Marina hiding under there.  
"A-are they gone?" said Marina, getting out from under the table.  
"Yeah, uh, they're gone..." Lucas said, nervously.  
"Oh thank you so much!" she replied.  
Pearl got out from under the table. "Yeah, thanks!" She said, "We just wanted to get some food."

"Oh, uh, okay!" said Lucas.  Suddenly he heard a yell from over by Grizzco Industries, a yell that sounded like 'Hey, they aren't here!' Lucas realized they found out he was lying. "I... uh... gotta go!" He said as he ran to the crowd. The two girls both said bye and waved back.  
Pearl laughed, "Well that was very helpful of him, wasn't it?"  
"Heh, yeah..." said Marina, looking back at Lucas. She looked back for several seconds until Pearl interrupted her.  
"C'mon let's get some food now, I'm starving!" she said.

At some other times, the girls would go out again, but in disguises (or their casual outfits) so that no one would recognize them. Lucas was able to recognize them though, but he'd never make contact with them. He'd be a bit disappointed when he doesn't see her in her original outfit, but he liked Marina all the same, no matter what. Even during that time, he was on an Agent 4 mission where he first encountered Octolings.

He told Marie (AKA Agent 2) that he saw they had suction-cups on the outside of their hair instead of the inside, and that Marina had that same thing. Marie told him that it was because Marina was an Octoling. Lucas was shocked to hear this. He thought, "Why would they let an Octoling into Inkopolis Square?! I just don't understand!" Marie was able to explain to him that Marina became good and came to the surface to live in peace and harmony with the inklings, and that no one knows she's an Octoling (though they have to keep it secret!). Lucas didn't care what Marina was, he still liked her a lot.

He was absolutely thrilled when he heard there was a job opening for a roadie for Off the Hook. He would help to transport band equipment wherever they would have a performance. It had good pay, and Lucas was strong enough to lift the gear. He has a membership at Musselforge Fitness and he worked out there 3 times a week. It really pays off. Sometimes after each show, he would go and talk to Pearl and Marina. Eventually, he became friends with the two girls. He was able to get the nerves to talk to them normally, and not be too awkward, but he'd still get a little nervous around Marina. Sometimes some fans would come backstage and annoy Pearl and Marina when they were simply trying to relax, but Lucas was able to be their "bodyguard" and keep them away. Let me tell you about one time when that happened...

It was the intermission of the show in the Inkopolis Amphitheater. Backstage, Lucas was helping to move some speakers. He was wearing a small headset, a leather jacket with the word "ROADIE" on the back, a name tag on the front, and a pair of tennis shoes. After he moved what he needed to, he saw Pearl and Marina. He took a deep breath, straightened his jacket and went over to talk to them. "Hello," He said awkwardly. The two girls stopped talking and looked at him.  
"Hi," they said at the same time.  
"What's your name?" asked Marina.  
"Oh, well I'm Lucas," he said, pointing to his nametag, "I'm a roadie here."  
"Cool," said Pearl, "wait, I feel like I know you from somewhere..."  
"Oh, um, you probably don't remember me, but I saved you guys from that mob of fans the one time."  
It hit Marina, "Oh yeah!" she said, "I remember you now!"  
Lucas smiled. "Yeah," said Pearl, "that was nice of you to do."  
"Well," said Lucas, "you're welcome!"

Suddenly there was a sound of something banging on a door. Lucas and the girls looked over to the left to see a jellyfish bodyguard struggling to hold down a door that was being pushed on by fans who were trying to get in the backstage. The jellyfish failed to hold the door any longer and it swung open. The fans came through and started screaming while running towards the table where Pearl and Marina were sitting. The two girls stared in fear until Lucas turned around and put his hands out and blocked them. They tried to get passed him but failed. "Sorry," he said sternly, "you can't go any closer. You're not allowed back here without passes, now leave!"  
The crowd aww-ed in disappointment and went back out the door. "That's right," said the jellyfish bodyguard, "Move along people!"

"Wow," said Lucas, putting his hands down, "that was a lot easier than last time."  
"Oh my cod, thank you, Lucas!" said Marina.  
"Yeah thanks," said Pearl, "there's no way we would've gotten out of that on our own!"  
"We should be friends!"  
Lucas froze when she said this. Be friends? With the two members of Off the Hook?! It was a dream come true! He turned around trying to look normal. "Yeah... sure!" He said. Everyone smiled. And so Lucas officially became friends with Pearl and Marina!

At the Square, Lucas would always check in on the daily news, and crack up whenever Marina roasts Pearl (and vice versa). He would prepare and attend Splatfests every chance he could (prepare as in help set up the stage), and just party all night, listening to the music and inking as much ground as he can in the turf wars. He was a really great guy to have around. He always had feelings towards Marina, and over time, she has started to grow feelings towards him too... Okay, back to the present!

————————————————————————

Pearl and Marina were just finishing up their latest newscasting for the current stages. "Don't get cooked, stay Off the Hook!" They both said as they did their trademark pose. The two of them then walked back to their chairs at the little table in their booth. They're at the table more than they broadcast live for the Square, actually. It was only every two hours when the stages changed. So what they'd always do between broadcasts was just sit and talk, and eat too.

Pearl always starts the conversation with something random, or something related to their band. "So, when's our next concert?" She asked.  
"In about two weeks, at Starfish Mainstage."  
"Okay, just making sure. We better rehearse!"  
"Don't worry, we always rehearse when we get back home."  
"Yeah... do you think it will be a lot to set up?"  
"No, I think it's just the usual setup."  
"Okay then... do you think that one roadie will be there?"

"What roadie?" asked Marina.  
"You know," said Pearl, "that one boy who walks by the window every day. The one who helps hide us from crowds of fans, remember? The one we TALK to in between concerts? What was his name again?... Lucas! That's his name!" Marina did remember, and right at that moment, the two girls saw Lucas outside the window. He waved at them. Marina awkwardly waved back while Pearl did her classic 'yo wassup?' sign. Lucas grinned at Marina, and then smirked at Pearl and gave her the "How you doin'" sign. Pearl laughed, "Heh heh! Yeah, he hates me, am I right, Marina?" Pearl looked over to Marina, who was resting her head in her hands, daydreaming.  
"He's kinda cute actually," she said. She was lost in thought.

"What?" said Pearl.  
Marina perked up, "What? I- I said nothing!" They hesitated for a second. "OoooooooOOOOOHHHhhh!" Pearl said, smirking. Marina blushed. "You like hiiiim!"  
Now Marina was really embarrassed. "Okay he's cute, but I barely know anything about him. All I know is that he helps to move our band equipment during concerts. We are friends, but I don't know if we could, really, ever be more than that..." she said.  
"Well then go talk to him." said Pearl, pointing to the left side of the room. "I saw him move this way, I think he's in the alley."

Marina looked worried. "I don't know about this," she said.  
"Don't worry, take the back door like we always do, but don't leave the alley this time!" said Pearl, "Just don't scare him when you open the garage door!" (note: there is a garage door next to the gate where you enter Octo Expansion in the back alley. I think this is how Pearl and Marina get in and out).  
"I'm still unsure..."

"Don't worry, you got this! I believe in you!"  
This made Marina feel a lot better. Now she was confident. She stood up, "I'm gonna do this!" she said.  
"That's the spirit!" said Pearl, "Go get 'em, tigerfish!" Marina opened the back door and went through.

The room she entered was small, with a staircase going upstairs at the right and a door to the garage room on the left. She went to the garage room and opened the door. Lucas jumped a bit as he heard the door open. He was leaning against the stack of boxes at the far end of the alley. Marina took a deep breath and slowly turned the corner, right into Lucas' view.

"Um... hi!" she said. She was really nervous, talking to a guy she found attractive but never talked to. Lucas, however, was beyond nervous. He just stood there, speechless, with a dropped jaw... but only for a few seconds.  
"Oh... h-hi! You're Marina right?" said Lucas, now star struck. Even though they've talked plenty of times, this time was different.  
"Yep, that's me!" The octoling said. Lucas was so amazed that Marina was actually talking to him, he thought he was crazy (and he wasn't lying tbh... lol). "This is crazy! I just-" he said, "I just can't believe that YOU are talking to ME! I'm usually the one who starts the conversation!" They both laughed. "I can't believe it either!" She replied, and they both laughed even harder. Eventually, they calmed down enough to talk more casually.

Lucas was the first to talk, "So... um..... what brings you here, to this alley?"  
Marina silently laughed and sighed at the same time (I wish there was a shorter term for this). "To be honest, it was Pearl. She kind of forced me to come back here and talk to you because I said you were cute."  Marina suddenly gasped and covered her mouth. "Aw no! Why did I say that out loud?!" She thought. (Note: thoughts will be in italics!)

Lucas was even more speechless than before, and his cheeks turn red. They hesitated for a while. "I-... I didn't me- I jus- um.." Marina muttered, not knowing what to say.  
"Y- yo- you think I'm... cute?" Replied Lucas. Marina perked up a little and said, "Uh... ye- yeah... I- uh..."  
"N- no one's ever said I was cute before..."  
"Oh... r-really?"  
"Yeah... Th-thanks for saying that. That, really made my day!"  
They both smiled. "You're, um, pretty cute too!" said Lucas.  
Marina smiled, "Aww thanks! I, get that a lot."  
"I can see why!"  
"Awwww!"  
They both giggled. Lucas was a lot calmer now. He could finally just, talk! He then spoke up a bit. "Hey, um... maybe, we could, stay in touch, a bit?" He asked.  
Marina replied, "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that!"  
"Cool! Um, do you want to exchange... phone numbers or something?"  
"Sure, why not?"

Lucas reached for his backpack and pulled out two small pieces of paper and two pencils. The two then gave each other their phone numbers and smiled all the way through.  
"I'll be sure to add you to my contacts!" said Lucas.  
"Thanks!" said Marina, "Um... I think I'd better get going..."  
"Okay, see you later!" said Lucas. But then Marina suddenly stopped. "Wait, you're name's Lucas, right?"

"Yeah," said Lucas, "In Lucas, Lucas Splattington."  
"Alright then, Lucas, um, I'm Marina Ida." Lucas reached out his hand. Marina did the same and they shook hands.  
"It was nice to meet you today!" he said.  
"Yeah, thanks," said Marina. She started walking towards the garage door before Lucas stopped her.

"Wait!" he said, "Um, can I take a picture with you? I want to show my friend so that he'll believe me when I tell him I met you today!"  
Marina didn't hesitate. "Okay then!" She moved back over to Lucas, who pulled out his squidphone, and he took the picture.  
"Thank you!" he said.  
"No problem, bye!" said Marina as she walked towards the garage door, and Lucas waved bye back. Once Marina got in and closed the garage, Lucas fell back as if he had the most amazing experience of his life.  
"Woah!" he thought, "I never knew it was that easy!..."

Marina came back into the room, and Pearl stared at her like she was prepared for her arrival. "So, how'd it go?" she asked.  
Marina replied, "Oh, you know, I kinda just GOT HIS PHONE NUMBER!"  
"OHHHHHH!!!!!"  
"YAAAAY!!!!!!!"  
The two girls were absolutely elated. Pearl ran to Marina and hugged her tightly. "I'm so proud of you!" Marina hugged her back. "Thanks!" said Marina, "But, do you really think I have a chance with him?"  
Pearl looked up at her octoling friend. "Well I'm no fortune teller," she said, "but something tells me you two will be perfect for each other!"  
Marina smiled, "Awww thanks, Pearlie!" Once again, her best friend never fails to put a smile to her face!

A few minutes later Marina got a call on her phone, it was from Lucas. Marina stood frozen. "Well don't just stand there," said Pearl, "answer it!" Marina got back to her senses and pressed the answer call button.  
"Hello?" she said.  
"Hi," said Lucas through the phone, "it's me, Lucas."  
"Oh hi!"  
"Um, I was just wondering..."  
"Yeah?"  
"After the next stage cycle, if you're not busy, do you think we could meet at the coffee shop, and just... talk?"  
Marina paused, then she said, "Yeah, sure!"  
"Okay, I'll see you there, bye!"  
"Bye!" Marina hung up.

"What was that all about?" Asked Pearl.  
"He wants me to go to the coffee shop with him, after our next break."  
"Oh, well you can definitely do that, and get to know him better. After all, IF you're ever going to be in a relationship with him, you need to know more about him, because all we know is that he's a roadie at or concerts and he saves us from fans."  
"Yeah, I can talk to him about that, and other stuff too!"

After the next stage rotation was announced, Marina went down to the coffee shop. When she went inside she saw Lucas waiting for her at a nearby table. "Over here!" Luca called out. Marina walked towards the table and sat down in a chair across from him.  
"Hi," she said, "nice to see you again!"  
"You too!"  
"So, um... you're the one roadie who Pearl and I talk to at concerts right?"  
"Yeah, that's me. You should know that, because, well, we're friends right?"  
"...Yeah, yeah we're friends."  
"Great!"  
"And you protect us from crowds of fans right?"  
"Uh-huh! I mean, it would be horrible to see you guys trampled or something."  
"Yeah, it would be a disaster!"  
"Like, whenever I see a big cluster of people coming towards you guys, you be in trouble and I'd be all like," Lucas looked up at the ceiling and pointed at it, "'I'LL SAVE YOU!'"  
Marina laughed, and so did Lucas. "Yeah," she said, still laughing, "you're funny!"  
"Heh, yeah."

"Anyways, what do you do outside the concerts?"  
"Oh, well I, you know, do some ink battles, hang out with my other friends, and I work at Grizzco Industries."  
"Oh! You do Salmon Run?"  
"Yeah, you do too, right?"  
"Yep! Isn't it so much fun?"  
"Absolutely!" The two smiled. Lucas continued, "I think we should hang out more often, you seem like a pretty cool person."  
"Aw, thanks! You too."  
The two looked at each other and smiled, until Lucas said, "Oh wait! I haven't gotten my coffee yet! I'm gonna go order it!"  
"Oh, I'm gonna get mine too!"

So the two ordered their coffee and then sat back down to drink it. They talked a little longer until Marina got a text from Pearl saying she should come back to the studio.  
"Oh, uh, I gotta go!" said Marina.  
"Okay then," said Lucas, "see ya!"  
"Bye!" Marina walked out the door of the coffee shop and back to the studio. Lucas smiled, he couldn't wait to spend more time with his crush...


	2. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas and Marina go on their first actual date together. They get to know each other better and start to fall in love. Ooooooh!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> • In this story, off the hook gets off of work at 8 everyday, but since that's the time of the date, they got an hour off today.  
> • Lucas and Henry are roommates  
> • Marina lives in Pearl's house  
> • Oh I gotta mention this to: I think that canonically, Pearl and Marina are roomates. This makes sense because how else would Pearl have gotten that picture of Marina sleeping in Octo Expansion? It could've been a sleepover, but with all the evidence I've seen and the things Pearl and Marina have done and said, I think it's pretty clear that they're roommates, and they love each other like sisters (It might sound weird to you, but not to me). I don't care if you don't agree with me, this is MY story! MINE!!!...... Sorry, lost my temper there... time to start the story!

"Hi there." That was the first thing Lucas texted to Marina after thy exchanged numbers, he also sent the picture he took with her. Marina was looking at her phone, thinking of what to text back. Pearl kept jumping up and down to try and see Marina's phone screen until she held it down for her to see.

"Wait what does he look like again?" Pearl asked. Marina showed her the picture Lucas sent. Pearl smiled as she looked at Lucas' elated grin in the picture. "Oh yeah, he is pretty cute, not gonna lie. You picked yourself a good one, 'Rina!"  
Marina rolled her eyes and smiled. "Okay, can you let me text in peace now, please?"  
"All right all right," said Pearl, backing away with her hands up, "I won't interfere, but you gotta ask him out!"  
"I don't know, maybe I should wait until he asks me out..."  
"What if he never does?"  
"...Good point."  
"Thanks!"

Marina thought about what to text back and finally came to a decision. She typed.  
"Hi! It was really nice to see you!"  
"Yeah, you too!"  
"You know, you seem like a really nice guy, and I've been meaning to ask you something..."  
"Yeah? Ask me what?"  
Marina hesitated. "Moment of truth..." she said to herself and texted.  
"What would you say if I asked you out...... on a date?"

Lucas couldn't believe it. His eyes were even wider than before and his mouth dropped so wide open that the side of his lips hurt a bit. Marina, THE Marina, was asking HIM, out on a date! He was speechless. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming, then he came to his senses realizing that he hasn't responded for two whole minutes. Marina was a bit worried, but then Lucas texted back. "I would TOTALLY say yes!!! I can definitely go out with you!!"

Marina was so relieved! Usually it was the guy who would ask HER out, but instead, she did it, and the guy said yes! She texted back.  
"Thank you so much! I can't wait!"  
"Me neither. I'm so excited! I've never been out on a date before and now I get to go out with a celebrity. AWESOME!"  
"Yeah, I just can't wait to get to know you more."  
"I want to know more about you as well. Anyways where are we going out?"

Marina froze. She just asked a guy out, and she didn't even consider a PLACE to go out! "Pearl!" she shouted across the room.  
The small inkling turned around. "What?!" She asked.  
"I asked him out, but now I don't know where we're going!"  
"WHAT?!?!!!" Pearl screamed. Usually, Marina was the smart one, but for her to ask a guy out just like that and not have a full-out plan, that was like something SHE would do herself!  
"Do you have any suggestions?" Marina asked.

Pearl thought for a bit. She's only been on one "date" her whole life, and it was just at Snapper Canal. It wasn't a very ideal place to go out, so she was kind of stumped when Marina asked her this. But then she remembered this one awesome Italian restaurant her dad took her to once. "What about Alfonzo's Diner?" She asked.

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea!" Marina replied, "Their interior is so romantic, and they make the best food! Alfonzo's Diner it is!!"  
"Alright! But now you need a time and date, and I'm leaving it all to you!" Pearl walked back to the other side of the room.

Marina thought for a minute then found the perfect schedule for a date. [Note: It is currently Monday in the story.]  
"I was thinking Alfonzo's Diner, 8:00 pm tomorrow, how does that sound?"  
"Perfect, I'm free at that time. It's a date!"  
"Okay then, I'll make a reservation. See you there! TTYL"  
"Later!"

Marina closed out her texting app. "Well?.." said Pearl, walking to Marina.  
"Well," She said, "IT'S A DATE!"  
"BOOYAAAHHH!!!!!" Pearl shouted, she couldn't be more proud of her best friend. The two held hands and started jumping up and down while spinning in a circle, but they stopped when they saw an Inkling girl outside the window looking at them in confusion. "Okay Marina," Pearl said, "you have like a day and a half to prepare for this! You better find something nice to wear!"  
"I will!" replied Marina, "now we gotta tell the cameraman that we're getting off of work early to get ready for the date."

Lucas ran as fast as he could out of the alley. He had to tell Henry, his best friend, what had just happened. Henry was actually the inkling who showed Lucas around the Square when he first arrived just over a year ago. "HENRY!" He yelled. He saw his friend sitting by a table in front of the Shella Fresh store.

Henry was just as casual as Lucas was, and was also a great guy to have around. He was the laid-back, cool kind of person, but he's always there to help his friends. He had a ponytail haircut, peach-colored skin, and blue eyes. His go-to outfit was the B-Ball Headband, the Takoroka Crazy Baseball LS, and a pair of Arrow Pull-Ons. Henry was actually the one who helped Lucas get around when he first came to Inkopolis Square. They've been best friends ever since. "Yeah, what is it?" He said to Lucas.  
"I just met Marina in the alley, AND I got a date with her!"

"Pff, no you don't! I know you've talked to her before, but there's no way you just met her in the back-"  
"Oh yes, I did!" said Lucas. He pulled out his phone to show Henry the picture. "See?"  
"Well, the picture's real alright," said Henry, "but I still don't believe you're going on a date with her." Just then, Lucas switched apps to show him the text conversation they had. Henry read through it and said, "Oh my cod! You're not lyin'!"  
"I told you so!"  
"Man I'm proud of you!" said Henry, patting Lucas on the shoulder, "Now, where are you going out, and when's the date?"  
"Alfonzo's Diner, tomorrow at 8!"  
"Alright! But you're not going on a date with a celebrity looking like THAT!" said Henry, pointing to Lucas' clothes. "You gotta look FRESH!"  
"Yeah, I can do that!" said Lucas, "Just need to get some fresh clothes ready for tomorrow!"  
"Okay, But it's still the afternoon and we haven't done a single battle yet! Wanna do some turf war!"  
"Of course!" said Lucas, and the two boys headed to the lobby.

A day has passed. It was currently 7:35, and Lucas had to get ready for his date. He lives in an apartment building not too far from the square, but Alfonzo's Diner was pretty far from his place so he had to start early on making himself look good. He searched through his closet for the outfit he had ready. He put on a Shirt and Tie from the Splash Mob brand (it was the only outfit he had with an actual shirt and tie). Then he slipped on a pair of Squink Wingtips from the Rockenberg brand. He went to the mirror in his bathroom, combed his hair, brushed his teeth and washed his hands. He then looked through the top drawer of his sink for a finishing touch. He found a Squid Hair clip and put it on the left side of his head. He was ready for his date!

"You, look like a new man!" He said to himself in the mirror.  
"Meh, ya look about the same to me," Said Henry from the other room.  
"Oh shut up!"  
"C'mon you know I'm kidding!"  
"Yeah yeah... but seriously how do I look? I'm kinda nervous about this."  
"You look fine! Don't worry there's nothing to worry about!" Henry patted Lucas on the shoulder. "Good luck out there!"  
"Thanks," said Lucas, "I'll be home at around 9, see ya!"  
"Bye," said Henry, as Lucas opened the door and left. He got into his car, opened his GPS app, typed in the destination, and drove off.

At about 7:45, Marina started to get ready for her date. She didn't want to go in her regular outfit since it would be inappropriate to wear in a fancy restaurant, and she didn't want anyone (except Lucas) to know it was her. So she looked around her closet for a nice outfit she could wear. She finally found a dress. It was sparking with teal-colored scales, and to Marina, it screamed beautiful. She then found a pair of teal leggings to put on under her dress. She also grabbed a pair of glasses. She didn't need them, she could see just fine, but it was part of her "disguise" so that no one could recognize her immediately. She'd just take them off when she got to the table. She took care of everything she needed to in the bathroom and then put on some perfume. She was ready for her date! (She did all of this pretty quickly, it wasn't her first rodeo).

She opened the room to her door and walked out. Pearl was there waiting for her, her eyes wide. "Woah..." she said.

Marina giggled. "Well... do I look good?" She asked.  
"Yeah, you look rad!"  
"Heh, thanks!"  
"Are you nervous at all?"  
"Yeah, a little, but I think I'll do good."  
"Of course you'll do good, I know you will!"  
"Aww, thanks Pearlie," Marina bent over and hugged her.  
"Now get out there and show Lucas how great you are!"  
Marina smiled, as she walked out the front door of the house to her car, and drove off.

Lucas was the first to get there. He found a parking spot and parked the car. He put his hands off the steering wheel and took a deep breath. "You got this, Lucas! Stay strong!" He said to himself. He got out of his car and walked towards the entrance of Alfonzo's Diner. The inside was indeed fancy. Brown brick walls, fancy lights hanging from the ceiling, calm music playing, it was the perfect place for a date. Lucas went up to the main counter and asked the jellyfish working there for the reservation. "Right this way," Said the jellyfish. Lucas sat down at the table and waited for his date. It took him 15 minutes to get to the place, so he had 5 minutes to spare. Finally, at 8:00, Marina arrived, right on time.

Lucas immediately recognized her and waved to her from the table, and she waved back. She asked for the reservation and the jellyfish walked her to the table. "Hi," said Lucas. "Hi," replied Marina. A jellyfish waiter came over and spoke, "Welcome to Alfonzo's Diner. Can I start you off with anything to drink?"  
"Uh, Yeah, I'll have some ginger ale," said Lucas.  
"I'll also have ginger ale," said Marina.  
"Coming right up!" said the waiter, walking away from the table.

There was an always silence for a few seconds, until Marina spoke up, "So, uh, I just wanted to say thank you for joining me tonight."  
"You're welcome, you look really nice!"  
"Aww, thanks!"  
"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting to know you, because the truth is, I've always sort of had feelings towards you..."  
"Aww, really? That's so sweet!... You can start then," she took her glasses off, "Ask me anything."  
"Alright, um *ahem* how- how old are you?"  
"I'm 18."  
"Oh cool, me too!"  
"Ah, that's nice!"  
"Okay, um... is this your first time on a date? Probably not..."  
"Oh no, I've been on many dates, but, they haven't worked out too well. This is your first date, right?"  
"Yes, it is, heh, who knew it'd be with a celebrity!"  
Marina laughed. Lucas continued, "I'm actually a little nervous."  
"Oh, don't be nervous. You'll get used to it if we happen to go on another date sometime."

"Heh, yeah. So uh, tell me a little more about yourself... like, uh, what are you into?"  
"Oh, okay. Well, I really enjoy music, machinery, acting, uh, reading, videogames, that kind of stuff."  
"Neat! I'm into most of that stuff too! I really love music, especially the Squid Sisters!"  
"Oh, I love the Squid Sisters! They're the ones who actually inspired me to be a musician!"  
"Hey me too! They're what got me into music. I can play the piano pretty well!"  
"Oh cool! I'm also good at the piano!"  
"Yeah, I've been to some of your concerts. You play the keytar really good! Not a single wrong note!"  
"Heh, yeah! I practice a lot, occasionally I'd make a mistake during a concert, but it would go unnoticed. Overall, I am pretty good."

"Nice, you're music is really good-" just then the waiter came over with there drinks.  
"Here you go," he said, passing them out, "Enjoy!"  
Lucas and Marina both thanked the waiter and took sips of their ginger ale.  
"This is pretty good!" said Lucas  
"Yeah," said Marina, "now, uh, when did you first move here to Inkopolis Square?"  
"Just over a year ago. I've really grown to love the place."  
"Yeah, it's great, isn't it? I've lived here for two years. It really is the place to be!"  
"I couldn't agree more! Now, tell me

Marina paused. She never really talks about her child often. Not because she can't remember, but because it would give away the fact that she was an Octoling. "Oh... um, I usually don't like to talk about my childhood. It's hard to explain..."  
"Oh, I totally understand! You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. D- do you want to know about my childhood?"  
"I'm good"  
"Okay then..." Lucas was looking for a way to change the subject. "Um, this place looks nice! I've never been."  
"Oh, well you should go here often, it's great and totally worth the money. They have such great food and beautiful lights!"  
"Yeah... But they don't compare to your eyes."  
"Awwwww!" Marina blushed, "Thank you!" Lucas smiled. The two stared at each other (not awkwardly) for a few seconds, smiling until the waiter came back. "Are you ready to order?" He asked.

It was just then that the two realized they haven't looked at the menu yet! Marina knew what she wanted though.  
"I'll have the spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce," She said, "and we'll have some breadsticks for the table."  
"Okay then," said the waiter, writing the order down on a small notebook, "and what about you, sir?"  
Lucas hesitated and glanced at the menu, then he spoke, "I'll have the same thing."  
"Alright then, your food will be here soon!" said the waiter, and he walked away from the table.

"You know," said Lucas, "I wonder what my parents will think when I tell them that I went out with a celebrity."  
Marina laughed, "I'm sure they'll be happy to hear that!"  
"Yeah, they're always happy to hear good news. They're great parents. I should pay them a visit sometime, and maybe you can come to meet them too someday."  
"Yeah. How often do you visit your parents?"  
"About once a month. Do you visit your parents?"

Marina froze. The truth was, she didn't even have parents. At least, she doesn't remember them. She couldn't tell Lucas that, though, because then he'll ask who took care of her for her entire life, and then Marina would have to come clean. The best she could do was lie. She said, "Oh, of course, I visit my parents! Yeah, and they're really great too, and they would love to meet you!" She smiled awkwardly.  
"Oh, uh, that's great! Your parents sound wonderful!" He replied.  
"Heh, yeah... they're great." Marina decided to change the subject. "So, do you, um, have a job? Other than being a roadie?"

"Oh yeah, I work part-time as a video game designer at Ancho-V Games. I'm kind of like an intern. I help out with music production and programming"  
"Oh cool, I've always wanted to work there!"  
"Yeah, it's pretty fun. I also work part-time at Grizzco Industries."  
"Sweet, I work there sometimes too."  
"Nice! Maybe one day we can work a Salmon Run shift together."  
"Yeah, that would be fun! Um, do you celebrate Splatfest?"  
"Every chance I get! They're so much fun!"  
"Yeah, what teams have you picked?"  
"Oh, well most of them were the teams you chose."  
"Aww thanks, that's great! And, what teams did you pick that wasn't on my side."  
"Oh... um, well I picked flying for the superpower one, and baseball for the sports one."  
"I see..."  
"Yeah, I've never played soccer, and baseball's been my #1 sport."  
"Yeah that's okay, people have their opinions."  
"And I picked flying because, well, I'm kind of lazy, and I don't know what's it's like to be swarmed by fans."  
They both laughed. "Yeah," said Marina, "you're pretty funny!"  
"Heh, thanks!"

The two talked for a little longer until their food got to the table. They ate it and enjoyed it. Lucas really loved the food, and Marina was happy to hear that. They talked some more and started to learn a lot about each other. When they were done, they both got their own to-go boxes, and Marina paid the bill. Lucas insisted on splitting the money, for he brought his own, but Marina said it was fine.

When they were ready to leave, Lucas walked Marina out the door. They stood outside, in the pale moonlight. "So," said Lucas, "I really enjoyed spending time with you tonight. The food was great and I learned a lot about you! Thanks!"  
"Awww no problem!" said Marina, "I enjoyed spending time with you too! We should do this again sometime."  
"Yeah... maybe we can hang out somewhere else, like, the Reef or something, and just spend some time together!"  
"Yeah... I'd like that!"  
The two of them smiled, and then they leaned over and hugged each other. They really enjoyed it.

"Well... goodbye!" said Marina, as she walked towards her car.  
"Yeah... goodbye!" Replied Lucas. He walked back to his car and went inside it. He closed the door, and then a few seconds later, he screamed, "YES!!! HAHAHA!!!!!! I DID IT!! WOOHOO!!!!!!" He held his hands up, he was so happy. He couldn't wait to spend more time with Marina, and she couldn't wait either...


	3. The Reef

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas and Marina go on a second date to the Reef. Yeah there isn’t much else...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a suggestion that I should have a second date that comes after the first date and before the house visit in the next chapter (spoiler!). I decided I'd do so, this will be short and sweet!

When Lucas went home the other night after his date, he went straight to bed. When he woke up, Henry was hovering over him. He screamed. Henry lifted his head up and laughed. "Not funny dude!" said Lucas angrily.  
"Oh come on!" Replied Henry, "it was a little funny! Anyways how was it last night?"  
Lucas got up from his bed, "Oh it was great! Marina is such a nice person!"  
"I'll bet she is!" said Henry, "Now come on, let's eat some breakfast!"

Henry prepared breakfast for the two. As they ate, they talked. "Are you two going to meet up again?" said Henry.  
"Yeah, maybe we could hang out somewhere. Like a second date!"  
"Woah man, slow down! I know you like her and all, but we gonna plan this more thoroughly."  
"Yeah yeah okay..."  
Lucas and Henry were silent for a while, but then Lucas spoke, "what about the Reef? We haven't been there in a while."  
"Sure we have, we've been there for Turf War and Ranked and stuff!"  
"Yeah, But what about just hanging out, at the shops and stuff?"  
"...that could be arranged. Can I come?!"  
"Sure, as long as you don't get in the way."  
"I promise!"  
"Thanks, bud!"

After breakfast, the two boys got dressed headed down to the Square. Lucas went to the Crust Bucket and ordered a Special-Saver Latte to help him stay awake. He walked over by the window and saw Pearl and Marina. He waved to them, and after suddenly noticing, they waved back. "So," said Pearl, "how is he?"  
"He is awesome! We have plenty in common and he's very friendly!"  
"That's nice! I'm happy for you Marina. Are you guys gonna go out again?"  
"Most likely, but I just don't know wher-" Just then, Marina's phone went off. It was a text from Lucas.

"Good morning!"  
Marina texted back, "Hi there! Good morning too!"  
"Yeah, anyways I was thinking of going out again..."  
"Okay, where?"  
"To the Reef. We can hang out by the shops and stuff"  
"Yeah, that sounds fine! When should we go?"  
"Idk, I'm free anytime, but I don't know about you or your work schedules or anything"  
"I think Sunday sounds good, I don't have to work that day. Maybe I could come a little later when the place is less crowded?"  
"Yeah sure, 8 again?"  
"Yep"  
"Okay then, see ya!"  
"Bye!"

"We're going to the Reef on Sunday!" Marina said after closing out her app.  
"Yay!" said Pearl, "Can I come too? Please please PLEEEASE?! I REALLY need to do some shopping!"  
"Well... maybe, I'll have to talk to Lucas about to though."  
"Okay, I CAN'T WAIT!!"  
"Me neither..."

The day finally came. Lucas and Henry walked to the Reef (it wasn't very far away), while Marina rode there on her motorcycle with Pearl. Lucas entered a nearby clothing store and waited for Marina. "Does she know you're meeting here?" Asked Henry.  
"Actually I don't think so," said Lucas, "I'd better give her a call."  
"Okay, I'm gonna go walk around the place, look for something to do. Have fun!"  
"See you later!"  
When Henry walked away, Lucas pulled out his phone and dialed Marina. She was currently parking her motorcycle on the bike rack (near the spawn area). Pearl hopped off and said, "I'm going shopping right away, you go look for Lucas. See ya!" She ran off. Suddenly Marina's phone rang, she answered the call.

"Uh, hey Marina!" said Lucas into his phone.  
"Hi!" Marina said back.  
"Are you here yet?"  
"Yeah, I just parked? Where are you?"  
"I'm just outside the Rad Clothing store, where are you?"  
"I'm over by the bike rack."  
"Hold on maybe I can see you."  
Lucas looked over to the left and up and saw Marina. He waved to her.  
"I see you!" said Marina.  
"Me too! Meet me down here, bye!"  
"Bye!"  
Marina hung up and Rad down to the Rad Clothing store where she met up with Lucas.

"Hi!" said Marina.  
"What up?" said Lucas.  
"Nothing much, glad we both met up!"  
"Yeah, hey I couldn't help but notice you're wearing a different outfit."  
Marina was wearing her casual outfit (The one she wears in Octo Expansion), a white bandana, her classic headphones, a white sweater top, a watch, a chain necklace with her logo, and gray slip ons. "Oh yeah, this is my casual outfit," said Marina, "this is what I usually wear outside of the studio."  
"Oh cool, you look good in it. Well, you pretty much look good in anything."  
Marina giggled, "Awww thanks!"  
Lucas smiled. "Yeah, anyways," He said, "Do you want to go do something?"  
"Sure, why not?"

And so the two went around the Reef, checking out the stores and what they had to offer. They went into the Rad Clothing store. "Hey, you're a fashion expert, right?" Asked Lucas.  
"Oh... well I've never really seen myself as an expert, but, why do you ask?"  
Lucas pointed to a rack with a bunch of cool-looking sweatshirts. They had yellow and orange flames coming up from the bottom, leading up to red flame tips. "Do you think that'll look good on me?" He asked.  
"Maybe, why don't you go try it on?"  
"Okay!" Lucas took one of the sweatshirts and went into a nearby changing room. Marina waited outside the door. "Okay I'm ready," Lucas called out from behind the door.  
"Okay, show me!" Lucas walked out of the changing room, wearing the new sweatshirt, and put his arms out.  
"How do I look? He asked.  
"Ohh!" said Marina, "You look awesome!"  
"Thanks, I guess I should buy it then?"  
"Oh yeah, definitely buy it!"  
So Lucas purchased the sweatshirt and the two sat down at a nearby table with a good view of outside.

A turf war battle was currently going on outside: Green vs. Purple. It already started but Lucas and Marina decided to watch. They were rooting for green.  
"Yeah, let's go!" Shouted Lucas.  
"WOOHOO!!" Yelled Marina.  
They watched as the colors splashed everywhere on the ground. A nearby green player crushed a purple player with a Flingza Roller. The two cheered until the player exploded into purple after being sniped by an enemy player with a Firefin Splatterscope. "Oooooh!" They said at the same time, then they laughed. When the match ended, they looked at a nearby TV to see the results. The green team lost. "Awwww..." they said at the same time.

"I can't believe they lost..." said Lucas, disappointed.  
"Well, it was still fun to watch, right?" Asked Marina.  
"Yeah, it was..." The two smiled. After a while they went outside and sat on the edge of a roof, watching the sunset.  
"You know," said Lucas, "when I first met you, I was like, completely nervous to talk..."  
"Why is that?" Marina asked.  
"Well, because you seemed really rad, and I didn't think you'd like me. But at least I was able to get an autograph."  
"Yeah, well, I always thought you were a nice person."  
"Thanks, that's nice to hear." The two looked at each other and smiled.  
"You have really cute eyes!" said Marina.  
"Aww thanks, but they're nothing compared to your eyes!"  
"Awww..." Marina blushed.  
They hesitated, then Lucas spoke up. "I just wanted to say, that you're really awesome, Marina, and anyone who says otherwise clearly has never met you before."  
"Aww, thanks! That's really nice of you. You're great too."  
They both smiled, then Lucas, slowly and nervously, put his hand on top of Marina's. Marina looked down and smiled, and the two held hands.

They just sat there for a while, until Lucas got a text. He pulled out his phone and looked at it. "What is it?" Marina asked.  
"It's my friend," he said, "I gotta head home. See you later!"  
"Bye!" They quickly hugged each other goodbye, then Lucas grabbed his bag and hopped off the roof and went into the store to find Henry. Eventually, he found him.  
"Hey!" said Lucas.  
"Hey! Okay I'm ready to go," said Henry.  
"Did you buy anything?"  
"Just this cool bandana I found." Henry was carrying a small bag, he pulled out a bandana that was black and had white sharp teeth on it.  
"Nice!"  
"Did you have fun?"  
"Yeah, I hung out with Marina, man she is awesome!" Lucas leaned in closer to Henry to whisper, "We held hands!"  
Henry looked at Lucas with a surprised look. "Well good for you man!" He held up his hand and they high-fived. "C'mon, let's go home!"  
And the two walked back to their apartment.

In the meantime, Marina was still on the roof and was texting Pearl.  
"Are u done shopping yet?" she texted.  
"Yeah, and I'm just about ready 2 go," Pearl texted back, "How 'bout u?"  
"Yeah I'm ready, meet me by the bike!"  
"Kk"  
Marina hopped off the roof and walked to the bike rack where she had her motorcycle. She waited for Pearl, who eventually came back with a huge shopping bag filled with stuff. "How much did you buy?!" Marian asked.  
"A lot," said Pearl, "now come on, let's go!"  
She hopped onto the motorcycle and they drove off.


	4. Time with Lucas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marina goes to hang out at Lucas’ apartment. This is where it gets GUD! This time they’re really getting attached to each other. Could a true love be in the air? Also WARNING: This is the chapter that contains fetishes, so beware!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No criticism please, it makes me sad :( But if you want to request something for the story that I can change, I will gladly do so. Just be nice plz, thanks! :)

It was Monday morning. Lucas woke up, feeling refreshed and happy. Those two dates he had with Marina were unforgettable. He couldn't stop thinking about them. Anyways he got dressed and came out of his room to eat breakfast. Henry was already in the kitchen. He poured himself a bowl of Frosted Webern Flakes, and Henry did the same.

"I'm proud of you dude!" said Henry  
"Oh thanks," said Lucas with a mouthful of cereal.  
"You planning on going out with her again?"  
"Yeah maybe, I was thinking of inviting her over here."  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yeah, if that's okay with you.."  
"Yeah, it's totally fine! I can get out of the place so that you two can be alone."  
"Oh, well thanks, bro!"  
After breakfast, the two went down to the Square to do some ink battles.

Meanwhile, Pearl and Marina were in the booth talking. "He's such a great guy Pearl! I like him a lot!" said Marina. She couldn't stop thinking about the dates she went on, she was actually starting to fall in love with Lucas (oooooh!).  
"Yeah, he does sound great," said Pearl, "you're going to go out with him more, right?"  
"Well, I remember him saying that I could come over to his place sometime."  
"Oh boy... are you sure about that?"  
"Yeah, why not? I'm sure his place will be fine!"  
"I don't know, I'm just worried that he going to go for your... you know..."  
"Wha- oh- PEARL! He's NOT going to go for my breasts!"  
"How do you know that?"  
"He seems really nice and I don't think he's just going to go and do something like that. He likes me for my looks, but he also likes me for who I am, I just know it!"  
"Well, okay then. If you think he's the right guy for you, then that's perfectly fine!"  
"Thanks, Pearl!"  
"Well, when are you going to his place?"  
"I don't know, I'll have to text him and find out."

Marina got her phone out and texted Lucas.  
"Hi, Lucas!"  
"Hi, Marina!"  
"Those dates were fun weren't they?"  
"Yes, they were! I'll never forget the time we spent!"  
"Awww! Anyways, when's would you like me to come over to your place."  
"I was thinking tomorrow night, maybe?"  
"Yeah, sure! I have a day off on Wednesday, so maybe I could stay for the night?"

Lucas was surprised. Marina wanted to sleep over at his place, that was absolutely perfect! He texted back.  
"Oh sure, you can stay for the night! You'll have to sleep on the couch though if that's okay."  
"Yeah it's fine, I'll bring some spare clothes and a toothbrush. Should I bring a blanket?"  
"Yeah, you can bring a blanket and a pillow if you want."  
"Okay, thanks! So where you live?"  
Lucas sent Marina his address.  
"Floor 3, Room 315"  
"Got it! I get off of work at 8, so I can be at your house at around 8:15, sound good?"  
"Sounds perfect! I'll see you there!"  
"Thanks, bye!"  
"Bye!"

Marina closed out her texting app. "It's settled, I'm going over to his place on Tuesday!"  
"Yay!" said Pearl, "Don't forget to bring your Pearl pillow so that you don't forget about me!"  
"Aww, don't worry, I won't forget it!" The two girls hugged each other. Just then, Lucas saw them through the window. He waved to them. The two girls quickly stopped hugging and waved back. Lucas laughed, and he made his way to the lobby.

Tuesday finally came. Marina was packing everything she needed. Pearl came into her room while she was still getting everything ready.  
"You're taking the Pearl pillow, right?" She asked.  
"Uh-huh," said Marina, "It will remind how awesome you are!"  
"Awwwww!" Pearl went up and hugged Marina from behind. She went back to her room and came back to Marina with a Marina pillow. "I'll keep this with me while you're gone, so it'll feel like you're still here!"  
"Awwwww!" Marina went up and hugged her inkling friend. "Don't worry," she said, "it's only for one night. Don't miss me too much!"  
"Okay okay... I just hope you have a good time! Speaking of time, It's about 8:00 right now, you better get going!"  
"Alright then!" Marina gave Pearl one last hug, "See you tomorrow!"  
"Bye!" Pearl waved.  
Marina went out the front door and into her car. She put the address into her GPS and drove off. She couldn't wait.

When she got there, she stared at the building for a few seconds. It was very big, with shining blue walls and bright lights. "Angelfish Apartments," She said (that was the name of the building) to herself, "I can't wait to hang out with Lucas!" She grabbed her bag and made her way towards the building. She went through the entrance and up to the main desk.  
"Hello," said the jellyfish working at the desk, "can I help you, ma'am?"  
"Yes, I'm, uh, looking for Room 315."  
"Okay then, it's up on the third floor at the far right of the building."

"Thank you!" said Marina. She went over to the elevator at the center of the lobby, went inside and pressed the "3" button. The elevator went up and stopped when it reached the floor. She then walked down the right hallway and stopped when she reached the room. She knocked on the door and wasn't surprised to see who answered it.

"Heyyy, Marina!" said Lucas, with a huge smile on his face.  
"Lucas!" said Marina. They both went up and hugged each other. "I'm so happy to see you!"  
"Me too! Why don't you come inside?"

Marina didn't hesitate. She went inside and took her boots off (because they were unzipped, they could just slip off easily), and her headphones off, revealing curved ears. She looked around the place. It wasn't perfect, but it was still pretty nice. The walls were a pale blue color, and the ceiling too. The room you first enter is the living room. There was a TV and gaming system on the left wall, and a couch in the right. Up ahead was the kitchen. You enter on the right side, while the left side was a wall, with a large rectangular hole in it that you can see through (I don't know what they're called!)

"You have a nice place here!" said Marina.  
"Thanks," replies Lucas, "I mean, it's not luxurious or anything, but it's a pretty cozy place." Just then, Henry came up from behind the wall in the kitchen and could be seen through the large hole.  
"Is this the plus one?" He asked. Lucas and Marina were startled to see him suddenly pop up, but they laughed after.  
"Hello there," Marina said to Henry.  
Henry walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. Lucas walked up next to him.  
"Marina," he said, "this is my roommate and best friend, Henry!"  
"Nice to meet you," said Henry. He reached his hand out to Marina and they shook hands.  
"You too," said Marina.  
"Now, I'm going to go to a party at Sam's place (Sam was another friend of Lucas and Henry's). I'll let you guys be alone for a bit. See you later! Have fun!"

Sam became friends with Lucas and Henry a few months ago, about a day after the news announcement that “inklings with new haircuts” were appearing in Inkopolis. He had pale white skin and bright green eyes. His go-to outfit was a pair of Octoglasses, a Varsity Jacket, and a pair of Red Hi-Tops. The thing about him, though, was that he was a male Octoling! Lucas didn't have a problem with it, though, because he knew the whole thing about the Calamari Inkantation making Octolings turn good, Marie told him everything. He didn’t talk about it though. He became good friends with Sam, he was really friendly! Okay, back to the story!

"Okay, Bye!" said Lucas. Henry waved back, took the room key and went out the door. "Ah, now we have the whole place to ourselves!"  
"Yay," said Marina, hugging him again.  
"Now, I'm going to go out some comfortable clothes on, you can wait on the couch if you like. I'll be right back!"  
"Okay!"

[This is the part where the fetishes kick in...]

Lucas went into his room and slipped on fresh underwear, a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt. After that, he came out and sat on the couch next to Marina. She looked at him and noticed that he had some muscles on his arms.  
"Wow, you're arms are jacked!" She said.  
"Oh, you think so? Thanks!" said Lucas, blushing a little, "I work out at Musselforge. It's hard work but it totally pays off!"  
"I can see that!" Marina read he's out for his arm, "Can I?"  
"Oh, sure! said Lucas. He flexed his bicep and Marina felt it.  
"Wow, it's rock hard!" She said.  
"Yeah, I guess it is..." said Lucas. Lucas wasn’t like SUPER jacked, he was strong enough that you could see the veins on his arms and legs (stop saying he’s a Gary-Stu, he’s not!). Marina put her hands down. "There were a few things I wanted to ask you on our date on Tuesday, but I was a little nervous to do so. Can I ask you them now?"  
"Go ahead! You don't have to be nervous, it's just you and me!"

This made Lucas feel more confident. "Okay then," he said. He looked down at Marina's stomach. "Your belly button piercing, when did you get it?"  
"Oh this," Marina pointed to it, "I got it after Pearl and I released our first album. Thought it was cute."  
"I see," said Lucas. He reached his hand out towards it, but the man hesitated and jerked it back.  
"Oh no, you can touch it!" said Marina.  
"Okay then." Lucas reached out his finger and felt the piercing. It was very smooth, like a pearl. "I think it looks really good on you!" Said Lucas, "it really compliments your belly button."  
"Hehe, thanks!"  
Lucas then poked her in the navel and said "Boop!", which made her laugh harder.  
She covered her stomach with her arms. "Stop it! That tickles!" She laughed.  
Lucas chuckled. He was worried he was being a little weird, because that who he was, a bit of a weirdo, but Marina seemed to be enjoying it. He was happy. "Yeah," He said, "Wait before I get to the next question, I feel like I should show you around the place. Would you like a tour or something?"  
"I'd love a tour!"

The two got off the couch and Lucas showed her around. They walked into the kitchen.  
"This is the kitchen," He said, "if you hungry, you can help yourself to anything in the fridge."  
"Oh, I'm fine!" Marina lied. She didn't eat anything before leaving and was a little hungry, but she just wanted to spend time with Lucas. Lucas then shows Marina over to his bedroom.

"This is my room," said Lucas, "sorry if it's messy."  
"Oh no, it's fine! My room is like way messier than this!" The two laughed. Marina looked at his bed and noticed he had a Marina pillow. "Is that a Marina pillow?!" She said.  
Lucas looked over to his bed and picked up the pillow. "Yeah!" He said, "I saw this at a store and I couldn't help myself, I HAD to buy one!"  
"That is so sweet! Pearl has a pillow just like that!"  
"Really?"  
"Yep, and, hold on!"  
She went over to the living room where she put her bag. She unzipped it and took out the Pearl pillow. She brought it back to the room to show Lucas.

"You have a Pearl pillow?! That's adorable!" He said.  
"Yeah, I usually bring it with me when I go somewhere without Pearl." She hugged it tightly, "it like she's always here!"  
"Awwwww, that's so sweet! You two are such great friends, aren't you?"  
"Yeah, we are!"  
"She's lucky to have a great friend like you!"  
"Aww-w-www, thanks! Oh hey, I never asked you," said Marina, "what's your favorite weapon?"

"Oh, well honestly I like every weapon, they're good in their own unique ways. But my all time favorite is probably the New Squiffer! I'm a charger type of guy!"  
"Cool, so what other weapons do you have."  
Lucas then showed her over to a closet in his room. He opened the door and it was filled with weapons. "All of them!" He said.

The two laughed, Marina was in awe to see a whole closet full of weapons. She had one herself, but not as big as Lucas'!  
"Wow, this is insane!" She said, "Do you have the Octobrush?"  
Lucas dug through his closet and pulled out his Octobrush.  
"Nice! What about the Splat Brella?"  
Lucas pulled that one out from the bottom of the closet.  
"Awesome! Those are my two favorite weapons! Anything else you want to show me?"  
"Well, I do have a few rare weapons somewhere in this closet, hold on a sec!" Lucas climbed inside his closet and looked for the weapon. "Here it is!" He said. He came out of the room and showed Marina the weapon. "This is the Hero Shot Replica!"  
"Woah! That looks amazing. Where did you get it?"

"Uhhhh..." Lucas froze. If she told Marina the truth, she would find out he was Agent 4, and he didn't want her to know. He feared that if she found out that his main job is to hunt Octarians, she wouldn't like him anymore. He had to come up with a lie. "Sheldon was able to get me one of these using his... nerd skills!"  
Marina laughed, "Yeah, he is kind of a nerd!"  
"Yeah, but he's pretty nice once you get to know him. This weapon isn't much though. It's just a regular Splattershot with a new design."  
"It looks really cool though!"  
"Yeah..." Lucas was so happy to see Marina so impressed. It warmed his hearts! He could already imagine spending the rest of his life with her if he can keep this up. "Anyways, I think I pretty much showed you everything. Except for Henry's room, but he doesn't want me to go in there when he's not around."  
"Oh, hehe, okay!"  
"Um... do you want to watch a movie or something?"  
"Sure!"

The two walked back to the couch, and Lucas picked up the remote and searched for a movie.  "You like comedies, right?" He asked.  
"Oh, I LOVE comedies!"  
"Okay then, I'll look for one for you." Lucas selected a movie and pressed "play" on the remote. He put the remote down and the movie started. He turned over to Marina. "I like your hair!"  
"Oh, thanks!" She replied.  
"It's very cool and unique! Does it ever get in the way?"  
"Sometimes, but my hair is incredibly light, feel it!"  
Lucas reached out and felt Marina's hair. It was very soft and smooth and rubbery. He lifted it up, it almost felt like he was lifting air. "Wow, it’s pretty light!" Her hair tentacle started squirming in his hand. Lucas moved his hand back.  
"Sorry," Marina said, "sometimes it has a mind of its own!"  
"That's fine, your hair is really nice!"  
Marina giggled, "Thanks, you're really kind!” Lucas smiled. Marina brushed her hair back behind her ear. “Your ears are nice too.” Marina’s smile faded a little, but not too much. Lucas noticed her ears, her octoling ears, and now she was a little worried. “They aren’t pointy like most inklings,” Lucas said, “they’re more... round and one of them is a little different than the other.” Marina said, “Uh, y-yeah. It’s just a genetic thing I was born with. One ear has a hole, the other doesn’t, they’re curved. Yeah, not a lot of... inklings have that sort of thing.” “Oh, well that’s fine, they’re still nice, I just, never knew what they looked like behind your headphones because you wear them all the time.” Marina laughed a little, “Heh, yeah.” She smiled. Lucas smiled back. Then the two sat back and watched the movie.

The first 15 minutes passed. Lucas looked over at Marina. "Oh man," he thought to himself, "she looks so cozy! I just want to snuggle with her! I should scoot closer to her." He then scooted slightly to the right, and Marina scooted slightly to the left.  
"Ohh, I just want to lay on his shoulder so badly!" She thought. She then scooted a little closer to Lucas until they were almost shoulder to shoulder. Lucas made the first move, and he slowly put his right arm around Marina’s shoulders.

"Oh my cod!" thought Marina. She was nervous to make the first move, but luckily Lucas already did. Marina then laid her head on Lucas’ right shoulder. “Yes!” Lucas thought. They both smiled and leaned their heads on each other. Nothing could ruin this moment...

They laughed through the movie and just enjoyed the time they spent together. Lucas couldn't be happier. For once in his life he was confident enough to actually interact with Marina. When the movie was over, Marina yawned and laid down on the edge of the couch.  
"You tired?" Lucas asked.  
"Yeah..." said Marina. Lucas scooted over to the left to give Marina more room to lay down. She looked over and saw Lucas sitting on the end of the couch. "Are you gonna lay down?"  
"Well there isn't enough room, but sitting here is fine."  
Marina felt a little bad. "You can lay on me if you want..."

Lucas blushed. "R-really? I- I'm not so sure..."  
"Oh come on!" Marina sat up, hugged Lucas and pulled him down with her as she lay back down.  
"Woah!" He said. The two laughed, Marina held him tightly to her chest. They just laid there for a few seconds, but then Lucas spoke.  
"Uh, Marina..."  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you think I can lay down in a more... comfortable position?"  
Marina looked down and saw that Lucas' head was right laying right on her bust. "Oh- oh my gosh! I'm am SO sorry!"  
Lucas sat back up. "No no no, it's okay! It was just, the zipper felt a little uncomfortable on my face."  
"Okay then..."  
"Hey I've always wondered, why do you wear your shirt unzipped?"  
"Well, it's probably because I'm lazy," She laughed, "but it's also more comfortable this way, I guess."  
"Oh, well that's fine..."  
"I'll just zip it back up." Marina did so.  
"Okay, well... can I just lay on your stomach or something...?"  
"Sure!"

Lucas slowly placed his head on Marina's stomach, just above her belly button. His ear folded back, his head was leaning sideways so that he could see the TV. Lucas was surprised as to how comfortable it was. "Wow," He said, "your stomach is very comfortable, it feels nice!"  
Marina giggled, "Yeah, I guess it does!"  
"I mean, who needs a pillow these days when there's this?"  
They both laughed. Lucas wrapped his arms around Marina, and just relaxed. Marina put her hand out and stroked his hair. It felt really nice for both of them.  
"Do you just want to watch TV now?"  
"Why not?"

Lucas got the remote and switched the TV to regular cable. On the screen was a food commercial for a nearby burger joint.  
"Ooh, that looks good!" said Lucas.  
Marina licked her lips, "Yeah!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, her stomach growled loudly. Lucas sat up, looked at Marina's stomach, then back at her. She put a hand on her stomach and looked at Lucas, her face bright red.

Lucas snickered, then started laughing. Marina looked down, embarrassed. "Was that your stomach growling?!" Lucas asked.  
"Yeah..." said Marina.  
Lucas kept laughing, "That was loud!"  
"I know, I didn't have anything to eat before I came..."  
"You must be hungry!"  
"I know, it's really embarrassing!..."  
Lucas stopped laughing and saw Marina with her back turned. He felt bad and put his arm around her. "Oh no, hey, it's okay. It happens to all of us!"  
Marina peeled up, "Yeah, I guess you're right..."  
"C'mon just lay back down."  
They both did so, in the same position they were before. Marina's stomach growled again, they both laughed this time. "I guess I really am hungry!" She said.  
"Yeah... you know what, I'm getting a little hungry too. Why don't I make us some dinner?"  
"You'd do that?"  
"Sure, why not?"  
"Well thanks, that's really thoughtful of you!"

They both walked over to the kitchen. Marina sat in a chair by the dining table. "Sit tight Marina, it might be a while!" said Lucas from the other side of the room.  
"Okay!" She replied, "I can wait!"  
Luca spent the next few minutes cooking some food. He made some grilled chicken and mashed potatoes. He cut up the chicken and put it on a large platter. He then separated it onto two other, smaller plates. He also scooped out some mashed potatoes onto the plates. He got out two forks and put them on the plates. He put one of the plates done on the table in front of Marina. "Enjoy!" he said.  
"Thanks!"  
He went to the fridge and got out two orange soda cans. He gave one to Marina. They both silently ate their dinner. "Mmm," Said Marina, "this is really good!"  
"You think so?"  
"Of course!"  
"Well thanks!"

They continued to sit and eat, and talk a little bit. Marina already finished her plate, and Lucas was shocked to see her plate empty. He only finished about half of his plate. "Wow, you must've been pretty hungry!" He said, "Do you want seconds or anything?"  
"Yes, thank you!"  
Lucas brought the platter over to Marina and gave her some more chicken. When they both finished their food and drinks, Lucas took the plates, put then in the sink, and then he got the two empty soda cans and threw them in a recycling bin. "Are you full?" He asked.  
"Yeah, I'm a little full." She replied.  
"Well, I hope you saved room for dessert!"

Lucas went to the fridge and prepared dessert. He got out a tub of vanilla ice cream, and ice cream scooper, and two small, fancy glass cups. He scooped some ice cream in each cup and went back to the fridge and got some chocolate syrup to put in the ice cream. He then pulled out two spoons and put them in the cups. He put everything else away and brought the cups over to the table. Marina gasped and smiled. "I know how much you love ice cream!" Said Lucas.

"Oh thank you so much!" Marina replied. The two are their ice cream and enjoyed every spoonful. When they were done, Lucas took the cups and put them in the sink.  
"I'll wash them later," He said.  
"That was really good," said Marina, "I'm going to go change now, where's the bathroom?"  
"It's on the right of my bedroom door!" he said.  
"Thanks!"  
Marina took her bag and went to the bathroom. She put on a bra, fresh underwear, a pajama shirt, and pajama shorts. She took out a blanket and put her other clothes in the bag. She canes out of the bathroom and sat next to Lucas on the couch.

"Those pajamas look really soft," he said.  
"Yeah... they are!" Marina put the blanket over their legs. The two snuggled next to each other. After a few minutes, Marina started to moan.  
"What's wrong?" asked Lucas, worried.  
"Nothing," she replied, "it's just, I ate so much, and I have a bit of a stomachache..."  
Lucas looked down and saw that Marina's belly was a bit rounder than usual. "She really must've eaten a lot!" He thought. Author's note: anything in italics represents an exaggerated word or a thought, it should be obvious which is which!] "You can lay on me if  
you want..." he suggested.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah! Don't worry, I don't have any boobs!"  
Marina laughed and laid down on Lucas. His chin rested on her head. "Comfy?" He asked.  
"Yeah..." said Marina, "but my stomach still hurts." After that, her stomach let out a deep gurgle and she groaned.  
Lucas felt bad and said, "Don't worry, I got you!" After he said that, he put his hand on Marina's stomach and started rubbing it in small circles.

[Told ya there'd be fetishes]

Marina was surprised. She didn't even ask him to do it, he just did it... and it felt good! "Does that feel better?" Lucas asked.  
Marina let out a sigh of contentment, "Much better!"  
"If you think it's weird I can stop-"  
"No no no, keep going, it feels great!"  
"Oh okay!" Lucas was glad she didn't think it was weird.

The two were quiet for a few seconds. "Marina," Lucas asked, "why are you so adorable?"  
Marina turned her head around, "W-What?... hehe... well," she said, "why are you so adorable?!"  
"Awwww!" He said. The two of them then just watched TV and enjoyed every moment. After a while, Lucas stopped rubbing Marina's stomach. She turned around and saw that he was fast asleep, his head laid against the side of the couch. Marina looked at him and smiled. Then she bent over, and kissed him on the cheek. She picked up the blanket and put it over her and Lucas. She grabbed her Pearl pillow, laid back down on Lucas and fell asleep. Lucas smiled and put his arm around Marina (he wasn't entirely asleep)...

It was about 10:00 when they both fell fast asleep. Henry just came back from the party. He opened the door to the apartment, went inside and closed it behind them. He saw that the TV was on, so he went to turn it off, but when he picked up the remote that was on the side of the couch, he looked and saw Lucas and Marina sleeping together. "Ooooh ho ho hooo!" He smirked. He took his phone out and snapped a quick photo. Then he turned the TV off and went to bed.


	5. Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Pearl and Marina’s day off, and Lucas has a big day planned for them and his friends! And it’s about time Lucas finally asks Marina that question that’s been on his mind ;)

Lucas woke up the next morning. He felt stiff for some reason, then he realized that Marina was still sleeping on top of him. He gently shook her awake. "Hey, Marina! Wake up!" He said quietly.  
Marina's eyes adjusted to the light and she yawned. "Yeah?" She said tiredly.  
"You're still on top of me!"  
"Oh... sorry." Marina slowly got off of Lucas and stepped onto the floor. Lucas got up from the couch. He looked over into the kitchen.  
"Why don't I make you some breakfast?" He asked.  
"Okay!"

Lucas went and poured two bowls of Frosted Wyvern Flakes. "Thanks," said Marina, "this is my favorite cereal!"  
"It's my favorite too!" Lucas walked to the fridge and got a jug of orange juice. He poured a glass for himself and Marina. "Don't worry," he said, "it's pulp-free!"  
"Good!" said Marina.

They both ate their cereal and talked a bit more. "Did you have fun last night?" Lucas asked.  
"Yeah," Marina replied, "it was fun hanging out with you!"  
"Aww, that's good to hear. You know, if you ever have the time, you can come and visit any time!"  
"Really? That sounds great! Is your roommate okay with that?"  
"Maybe, speaking of which where is he? Oh, I think he's still asleep. I'll wake him up later."  
"Okay. Anyways today is my day off, we can spend all day together!"  
"Oh yeah, I can't wait!"  
"I'm probably gonna bring Pearl along if that's okay."  
"Yeah that's fine, Henry will probably want to join along too. Hey, maybe he and Pearl can meet up, I think they'll get along well!"  
"You think so?"  
"Yeah, I mean, they're both pretty cool."  
"Well, I don't know Henry very well, but Pearl is also really cool! Maybe they can get to know each other!"  
"Yeah, and with them out of the way, we can have the whole day to ourselves!"  
"Awesome!! So where should we all hang out?"  
"Well, I think Wahoo World is open today. That could be a fun place to hang out!"  
"Yeah, and maybe we can do some ink battles too!"  
"Yeah! I can bring some friends along too, that would be fun!"  
"I can't wait!"

The two finished their cereal and juice and Lucas put them in the sink. Marina went into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and got dressed in her casual outfit. Lucas waited for her at the door. She picked up her packed bag and said, "I'm just going to drop this off at my house."  
"Okay," replied Lucas, "I'll meet you at the Shoal."  
"Alright then, bye!"  
"Bye!"  
Marina walked out the door. She was so excited to spend the day with Lucas. Lucas went into Henry's room and shook him awake.  
"What?" He said sleepily.  
"We're going to have fun today! You gotta eat something!"

"Marina!" said Pearl when she opened the door to see her friend back from her visit to Lucas' place. She hugged her tightly. "You're back!"  
"Yes, I am, Pearlie!" Marina replied.  
"How was it?"  
"Oh, it was great! He's super nice and very thoughtful!"  
"Awesome, did you snuggle?"  
Marina blushed, "Yes..."  
"Oooooooh!"  
"Oh be quiet!"  
"Whatever..."  
"I'm going to unpack and get ready for our day off."  
"Okay then. Wait, what exactly are we doing today?"  
"I'm going to hang out with Lucas, do some ink battles and then we'll go to Wahoo World later."  
"Oh... sounds fun." Pearl was disappointed.  
"But of course," said Marina, "it wouldn't be entirely fun without you!"  
"Wait, what are you saying?!"  
"You're coming with us!"  
"YAAAAAAY!!!!!!! Okay okay, I'm gonna get dressed, don't even think about leaving without me!!!" Pearl ran to her room to change into her casual outfit.  
"I won't!" said Marina.

Pearl and Marina made their way to the Shoal, running from a few fans who wanted an autograph. When they got in, Lucas, Henry, and Sam were there waiting for them. Marina went up and hugged Lucas. "Hi, Lucas!" she said.  
"Glad you could make it!" said Lucas.  
"Well, I didn't want to miss out on today!"  
Sam looked at the two girls, wide-eyed. "Dude!" He said, "You didn't tell me you were bringing Off the Hook!"  
"I wanted to keep it a surprise!" said Lucas.

Despite being an octoling, Sam Octo (that's his last name) was pretty awesome (and good looking!). He had bright green eyes, peach skin, and he wore a pair of Octoglasses, a Varsity Jacket, and a pair of Red Hi Tops. He sometimes gets nervous around new people but it always happy to make new friends!

Marina let go of Lucas, and he introduced everyone. "Marina, you know Henry." He said  
"Sup?!" said Henry.  
"And this is my friend Sam."  
"H-hi there..." Sam said.  
Marina looked at him, realizing he was an Octoling. "A male octoling?" She thought, "You don't see that everyday! And he's friends with Lucas? Does he know he's an octoling? No, he'd probably flip if he found out! Or wait, does he know anything about the Octaria-"  
Pearl jabbed Marina in the side with her elbow.  
"Pay attention!" She said.  
"Oh sorry," Said Marina, "Hi, Sam! Nice to meet you!" Sam smiled awkwardly and waved. "I think you all know Pearl," she continued.  
"Hi, Pearl!" Said Lucas. He held his hand out and Pearl high-fived it.  
"Yo!"  
"Pearl, these are my friends: Henry and Sam."  
They both said hi. Pearl stared at Henry and blushed a little, but then she got back to her senses, tried to look cool and said, "Hey!"  
"Big fan of your music," Said Henry.  
"Oh, thanks!"  
The jellyfish at the counter spoke up, "Um, so are you guys going to do something here or what?"  
"Oh yeah, sorry," Said Lucas, "Private Battle for five please!"  
"Alright then, write your names down here and you'll be good to go!"  
They all signed their names on the paper but realized there were only five people. It wouldn't be a fair match, but then, three more kids came in to fill up the remaining slots. After that, they all went to the battle stage.

The battle was at New Albacore Hotel. It was Pink vs. Yellow. Lucas, Marina, and Sam were on the same team. Lucas had his New Squiffer, Marina had a Sorella Brella, and Sam had a Ballpoint Splatling. The other person on the team was a squid girl who had a Jet Squelcher. Pearl and Henry were on the opposite team. Pearl had Dark Tentra Dualies, and Henry had a Rapid Blaster Pro. The other people on their team were an octo girl with a Sloshing Machine Neo, and a squid boy with a Gold Dynamo Roller. Lucas and Marina were excited to be on the same team together. "Are you ready?" Asked Lucas.  
"Readier than ever!" Said Marina. The battle was on!

Lucas always starts out by inking the spawn area, and then gradually moving towards the center. Meanwhile, Pearl heads straight for the middle. Marina and Sam take the path on the left, inklings turf as they go along. Lucas takes the right path focusing on covering as much ground as possible. The inking girl on their team tries to cover up some missed spots and faraway spots in the middle. Henry makes paths of ink which his blaster to swim through quickly as he takes the left path. The octoling girl on their team covers up missed spots while heading towards the center, and the inkling boy rolls on the right path. All was going well until eventually, the teams met up.

Lucas was able to use his baller, so he activated it and rolled towards an large un-inked area. The baller ink-sploded, then Lucas went around and kept inking turf until he saw the slosher girl coming up near the second bridge. Lucas climbed to the top of a nearby platform, patiently waited for her to get closer, and then BAM! A direct hit. "Yes!" He said as he covered some yellow with his pink ink. He didn't have much time though, because Henry was making his way across the bridge and he saw Lucas. Lucas quickly made a path of ink to swim across and try to escape from Henry as he started shooting at him. Lucas reached the end of his path and charged up a shot, but it was too late, and Henry splatted him. "Shouldn't have stood still, buddy," he said.

Lucas respawned and covered some missed spots while moving towards the middle. Pearl spent most of her time moving quickly across the map and looking for opponents to splat. The squelcher girl came across the left bridge and tried to shoot at Pearl, but she dodge-rolled (or slid, technically you slide when using the dark tentra dualies) her way around her and splatted her. "BOOYAH!" She shouted, "HAHAHA!!! Who's next?!" She started shooting around in circles and didn't notice Sam, who was atop a platform, with his splatling at full charge. He released the charge, and at first it was in turfing mode, where it covered a small area of ink, but then it switched to ranged mode, where he was able to shoot at Pearl and splat her. Sam was so happy he flopped up and down in his octopus form.

Meanwhile, Marina was moving across the map and inking turf with her brella, until the inkling boy with the Gold Dynamo Roller came by. She threw an Autobomb at him, but he was able to escape, and it exploded, nowhere close to him. He went up the ramp closest to him, around, and on top a platform. He activated his Ink Armor, then he jumped down and splatted Marina with a vertical swing when her back was turned. The jet squelcher girl respawned, came up to the roller boy, and started shooting. He tried to squash her with his roller but he was out of ink and got splatted. Lucas looked at the map and saw that Marina was splatted. "Dang it!" He said. He super jumped to where Sam was and covered more turf. Sam activated his Inkjet and flew around the map, firing at nearby opponents. He was only able to splat the Sloshing Machine girl before he launched back to his starting point.

Lucas and Sam were in the middle of the map when they saw Henry, who jumped to a nearby platform, and started firing at them. Sam threw a Toxic Mist at Henry, and he was caught in it. His best move was to jump down from the platform in order to avoid the shots from Sam, who was now firing at him. However, when he reached the ground, Lucas had a charged shot and he splatted him. He high-fived Sam. Suddenly, the slosher girl came up from behind, after respawning and swimming back to the middle of the map, and started hurling spirals of ink at Lucas. He did his best to swim away, and then he threw an Autobomb and splatted her. Then he heard a large splash from behind him. He turned around to see that Sam was splatted by Pearl who used a Splashdown on him. "That's what you get!" She shouted. Then she caught sight of Lucas who's weapon was pointed at her. She swam away and Lucas chased after her. Pearl was at a dead end, and Lucas was right behind her. Pearl turned around and saw Lucas about to fire, but she slid away and threw an Autobomb at him.

Its mechanical legs moved quickly as it ran towards Lucas, who had no choice but to run from it. After it missed him and exploded, he turned around and saw Pearl chasing after him. He was running low on ink, so he ran away. "Little help here!" He shouted. Suddenly, Marina super jumped to his position and protected him with her brella. "Marina!" Said Lucas.  
"I got you!" Said Marina. She launched her canopy and Pearl tried to shoot at it, but then she stopped and rolled out of the way.  
"No fair!" She said. Marina activated her Splat Bomb Launcher and started throwing bombs everywhere. Pearl was unable to escape and got splatted.  
"Thanks for the help!" Said Lucas.  
"No problem!" Said Marina. Suddenly a yellow Ink Storm appeared in the sky, which came from Henry. Lucas and Marina scattered.

A minute left until the battle ended, and a lot was going on. So far the yellow team had covered more turf than the pink team. The pink team had to step their game up. Henry was getting slightly closer to the pink respawn area. He threw a Toxic Mist at Sam, who tried to shoot him but ran out of ink after being caught in the mist, so he swam away. Henry then realized that an Autobomb from Marina was following him, so he ran away. Marina used this opportunity to cover more yellow with pink, and she caught up with Henry and splatted him. Lucas was covering as much turf as possible, while also dodging shots from Pearl's dualies. He hid behind a wall, charged his Squiffer, and then went out and splatted Pearl. When Pearl respawned, she covered a bit of uncovered ground until she had her special ready. Lucas was currently fighting off the Gold Dynamo Roller kid, who threw a splat bomb at him, and Lucas escaped a little late and took damage from the bomb. Luckily, he was swimming in his Ink and he had a charged shot, so when the kid wasn't looking, he came out and shot him. After that, he saw a yellow marker at the same spot where the roller boy was splatted. Someone on the other team was super jumping to his position. Lucas prepared a charged shot so he can kill the player right when they land, but unfortunately, that player was Pearl, who used a splashdown in midair and splatted Lucas. "HAHAHA!!" She laughed, "Vengeance is mi-" until she was splatted by the Jet Squelcher girl.

30 seconds left, the two teams were just about tied. The Neo Sloshing Machine girl threw a Point Sensor at Sam, and she started attacking him. Lucas was behind her and shot her with an unfully charged shot. She turned around and lobbed ink in his direction. He threw an Autobomb and the girl ran behind a wall, fast enough so the Autobomb couldn't get her. Thanks to Lucas' thermal ink ability that came with his jacket, he was able to see the girl through the wall and he charged a shot, swam to her, and splatted her. The squelcher girl used Toxic Mist to help splat the roller boy. Marina used her brella to protect from the shots from the slosher girl, but when the shield broke, she threw an Autobomb to send the girl running away. Everyone inked like crazy until eventually, the game ended. Everyone super-jumped back to the Shoal and looked at a TV to see the results. The ink bar filled up and, BOOM! Lil' Judd fell over on his back as Judd pointed a pink flag in his direction. The Pink Team won! 52.3 to 36.9!

Everyone who was on the pink team cheered. Lucas high-fived Sam. "Awesome job, bro!" said Sam.  
"You too!" said Lucas, then Marina came up to him and hugged him.  
"We did it!!" She said.  
"Yeah! That was so much fun wasn't it? You did great!"  
"Thanks, and yeah, that was fun!"  
Henry went up to the pink team and shook everyone's hand. "Good game," He said to each person.  
"I can't believe you guys won!" said Pearl, a little upset.  
"Ohh, don't pout, Pearlie!" said Marina, pinching her cheek and moving it around a little. Pearl brushed her hand away.  
"Okay okay, fine! You guys did good, but our team is SO gonna win next round!" She said.  
"We'll see about that," said Lucas, "now, the winning team gets to choose what to do next, so we're gonna decide." The pink team huddled up and decided that they would do a ranked battle next: Rainmaker! "Okay then," said Lucas, "if anyone wants to change their weapon or gear, do it now." Everyone, except Sam, decided to change their weapon (he wanted to keep using his favorite splatling). When they did, they all super jumped to the next battle stage.

The next battle was at Piranha Pit, and since it was Rainmaker, the stage was arranged differently. The colors were Green vs. Blue. Like the last game, the players were randomly assigned to either team. Lucas and Marina were put on the Green team, as well as the inkling boy and girl. Pearl, Henry, Sam and the octoling girl were put on the blue team. Lucas had an H-3 Nozzlenose, Marina had a Sorella Brella, the inkling boy had a Bamboozler 14 MK I, and the inkling girl had an inkbrush. On the other team, Pearl had the Emperry Splat Dualies, Henry had a Clash Blaster, the octoling girl had an N-ZAP '85, and Sam still kept his Ballpoint Splatling. Seconds later, the battle started. (Author's note: since I'm lazy and I don't want the chapter to be TOO long, Ima skip tot he end of the battle). The battle ended when Pearl slammed the Rainmaker onto the green goal. They all super jumped back and looked at the results, though they didn't need to since they all saw what happened that ended the game. Lil' Judd pointed his flag at Judd, who fell over. Blue team won!

"HA HA!!! I DID IT!!!" Yelled Pearl, excitedly. Everyone on her team looked at her like they were waiting for something. "Ugh, okay fine, 'WE' did it!" She continued.  
"Aw man, we lost!" said Lucas.  
"Aww it's okay Lucas, we did our best," said Marina, patting him on the back.  
"Thanks!" Lucas went over to Pearl, "Hey great job out there!"  
"Yeah thanks, I told y'all I'd beat ya next round!"  
"Whatever, let's keep playing!" And so the group of kids did several more assorted battles, and were all having a great time until they all got hungry, so they went down to the Crust Bucket.

The group of friends walked and talked and tried not to make eye contact with any fans who called out, "Hey, isn't that Pearl and Marina!?" The girls' casual outfits didn't hide their identity very well, but they didn't mind. Okay anyways, they made it down to Crusty's Food Truck, and Lucas slapped down two tickets on the counter. "A Crusty Seanwich and an Ink-Saver Lemon please!" He said.  
"Coming right up, squiddo!" said Crusty Sean.  
Everyone else ordered their food and drinks and sat at a nearby table.

"Man this food is just amazing!" said Lucas. Everyone agreed.  
"I know right?!" said Pearl.  
"Yeah I mean, who doesn't like this food?" said Sam, "If I ever meet anyone who doesn't like this food, I will CRUSH THEM!!" Everyone went silent.  
"Geez dude, calm down!" said Henry.  
"What? I was joking!" Everyone started to laugh. Lucas focused on eating his sandwich until something caught his eye.

Up ahead in the distance, by the glass building next to the Shoal, Lucas could see a dark figure, staring in his direction with glowing pink eyes. It didn't move, it just stood there. Lucas just kept looking at it, and he felt a little uncomfortable. Marina looked over to him. "Lucas?" She asked. Suddenly he got back to his senses.

"Yeah what?" He said anxiously.  
"Are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I was just... staring off into space."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah he does that sometimes," said Henry, taking a sip of his Swim-Speed Apple. Lucas decided to change the topic.  
"Um," he said, "so you're all having fun right?"  
"Oh yeah, definitely!" said Marina, and everyone agreed.  
"So what else are we gonna do?" said Henry.  
"Well I was thinking that after we eat, we could do a few more battles and then go to Wahoo World," said Lucas.  
Sam almost choked on his drink, "Were going to Wahoo World?!" He said.  
"Yeah, why not? It'll be fun for all of us!"  
"Alright then, let's go!" Everyone finished eating, and then they went off to enjoy the rest of their day. The creepy figure in the darkness turned away, even though no one was looking. They were wearing a headset, and they pressed and held a button on it and spoke into the microphone. "Hey, Tenessa," they said.  
"Yeah, what is it?" said the voice from the headset.  
"I got her!"

————————————————————————

After they did some battles, the group of friends made their way to Wahoo World. They looked around at the large rides and colorful lights, it was truly the place to be. When they made it to the entrance, Henry said, "Alright, I'm going to the roller coaster!" He ran ahead, but Lucas grabbed him by the back of the shirt and stopped him.  
"Woah woah woah, hold your seahorses!" He said, "We gotta buy wristbands first!"  
"Oh yeah..."  
"The ticket booth's up ahead, let's go," said Pearl. The group of friends went up to the ticket booth and purchased their wristbands.  
"Okay, what's the plan?" Said Sam.  
"The plan is we do what we want for the next, um... 3 hours (He checked his watch, it was 4:00 pm), and then we meet over by the food truck area to get something to eat. If you get lost, send any of us a text and we'll come to find you. Otherwise, have fun!"  
"Alright then, I'm going to the roller coaster!" said Henry, running towards the ride.  
"Me too," said Pearl, following him.  
"Me three," said Sam, also following him. Lucas and Marina stayed behind.  
"So... what do you wanna do?" Asked Marina.  
"I don't know," said Lucas, "you choose!"  
"Do you want to go on the Death Drop?"  
"Sure!"

The two made their way tot he Death Drop ride, luckily there were just enough people in line so that they could get in for the next session. They showed the ride operator their wristbands and went on the ride. They were seated and buckled in as the handlebars went over their bodies. Lucas held on tightly to the bars, and the ride started to rise. Marina was enjoying it, but she looked over at Lucas who was heavily breathing and got worried. "Are you okay, Lucas?" She asked.  
"Yeah," he replied, "it's just... I've never been on this ride, and I'm really nervous."  
"Ohh, don't worry, it'll be fine! I went on this ride with Pearl for eight hours straight one time!"  
"I don't know... does it drop fast?"  
"It's okay Lucas, just calm down!" Marina reached her left arm over and held Lucas' hand. It made him feel better. The ride stopped when it reached to top, and then, after a few seconds, it suddenly fell down to the ground. Lucas screamed at first, but then he started laughing and cheering. It slowed down when it reached the bottom, and the two got off the ride. "So how was it?" said Marina.  
"That was actually awesome!" said Lucas.  
"Yay!! I'm glad you're not afraid anymore!"  
"Let's go check in on the others."

They went over to the roller coaster ride, and it turns out the line was longer than they thought, so Pearl, Henry, and Sam had to wait for a whole session before reaching the front of the line. "Back already?" said Henry.  
"Yep, I finally went on the Death Drop and it was great!"  
"Ha!" said Pearl, "You went on that ride for the FIRST time?! Wow...!"  
"Oh be quiet, Pearl! Are you even tall enough for this ride?"  
"Not without these thick-soled boots I'm wearing." Pearl pointed down at her feet and everyone saw that she wasn't wearing her usual Pearlescent Kicks, but instead, as she said, thick soles boots. Suddenly the gate to the ride opened up. "Hey let's go!" said Pearl, as she, Henry and Sam went through the gates and into the coaster. Lucas and Marina walked away from the ride and went to go on another. Eventually, they all met up and rode the roller coaster together, it was fun. They also went on the Death Drop and Ferris Wheel a few times too.

Once it was 7:00 pm, everyone met up by the food trucks like they were supposed to. They all brought funnel cakes and large cups of lemonade, then they all sat down at a 5-seat round table. "Man," said Sam, "it is so great to get to hang out with you guys!"  
"Thank you!" said Marina.  
"Huh? Oh yeah, thanks," said Pearl with a mouthful of funnel cake.  
"Ya know, I think this calls for a group selfie!" said Henry. Everyone agreed and gathered around the table. Henry held up his phone and everyone posed for the picture. "Smile!" Said Henry, and he took the picture. Everyone looked at his phone to see how the picture looked.  
"Aw man!" said Pearl, "I had powdered sugar all over my face!" Everyone laughed.

[Ima just skip to the part where it gets good!]

It was nighttime now, there were lights everywhere, "all sparkly and junk" as Pearl once said. The group of friends was currently on the Ferris wheel, Lucas and Marina in one lift, and the other group of friends in another lift. Lucas and Marina were on the top of the wheel. "Wow," Said Lucas, "you can see the whole city from up here!"  
"Yeah," said Marina, "it's beautiful!" Lucas put his arm around Marina and she cuddled beside him. Lucas hesitated for about a minute, then he spoke.  
"Marina..." he said.  
"Yeah?.."  
"Um, we've been dating each other for... quite some time, and I think I finally wanted to ask you..."  
"Yeah?" She said, "Ask me what?"  
Lucas took a deep breath, then he put his arm back down, reached out and held Marina's hands. He looked into her gleaming eyes and said, "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Marina gasped. "Are you kidding me?!" she said, "Of course I would!!"  
"Really?!" said Lucas, surprised.  
"Yes!" Marina leaned over and hugged him tightly, "I thought you'd never ask!"  
"Awww thank you," He said. They closed their eyes as they embraced each other, smiling through it all. Eventually, they made it to the bottom and the ride came to a stop, and they got off. The other group of friends also got off.  
"So," said Henry, "did you all have fun?"  
"Oh yeah!" said Henry.  
"It was great!" said Sam.  
"Mmm hmm," said Pearl.  
"Definitely!" said Marina.

"Great! Well, I guess it's time we all head home..."  
"Yeah," said Pearl, "I gotta get my beauty sleep! See y'all!" Everyone waved bye. "You comin' Marina?"  
"Oh yeah!" She said, "One second." She hugged Lucas. "Bye..." She said, and then she went off. Everyone else waved bye.  
"Okay I'm going home," said Sam, "goodnight guys!" Luck and Henry waved bye, then they walked back to their apartment.

When they got back, Lucas hoped onto the couch and laid back. "That was so much fun!" He said.  
"Yeah, it was!" said Henry, "We should really do this more often."  
"And guess what?"  
"What?"  
"Marina and I are officially boyfriend and girlfriend!"  
"NO WAY!! Dude, up top!" They high-fived, "I knew you had it in ya!" Lucas smiled. He couldn't possibly be happier, he had a bright future ahead of him now...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading (if you actually like my story). I just wanted to thank Splatoon Fanatic (@octofanatic on Twitter) for being part of the story. It was fun developing your character, you're the best!


	6. A Little More Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas and Marina hang out more, but the plot thickens!... Something is lurking down below, and it’s not good!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mussel Odyssey is a reference to that one Pearl Interview. Since that takes place AFTER Octo Expansion, I’m making it so that Pearl and Marina haven’t played the full version of the game yet. Also sorry for the long wait, I’ve been quite busy with other stuff. Enjoy!

Okay, so Lucas and Marina have been dating for about a month and a half now. Lucas recently told his parents about his girlfriend and they couldn’t have been happier. Another thing, Lucas was successfully able to save the Great Zapfish and rescue Callie. Marie was very thankful for his hard work. A few days after that, Callie appeared at Tentakeel Outpost, and Lucas was so happy to see her. Now he stopped by every now and then to chat with them, and see what's up. Later on, Marina was able to go over to Lucas’ place again. Henry was out for the night, so he wouldn’t be a problem. She had everything prepared and went over. When she got there, Lucas immediately hugged her when she opened the door. “Hi, Marina! Glad you could come!”

“Nice to see you too,” she said, with a smile on her face.

“Come on in, you can put your stuff down inside and then we’ll hang out.”

Marina put down her bag, and she took off her headphones, bandana, necklace, and slip-ons (She was in her casual outfit). “So what are we gonna do first?”

“Whatever you want I guess, are you hungry?”

“No, I ate before I got here.”

“Alright then, but if you want anything I’ll get it for you.”

“Thanks, uh, oh!-” Marina took sight at the game console by Lucas’ TV, “I didn’t know you had an Ancho-V Zii!” (This is the name I made up for that one videogame console you can see at Ancho-V Games)

“Wha- oh yeah, I’ve had this for a while, I play on it when I have spare time here at home. Do you have one?”

”Yeah, we have one, but I don’t play it too often, by myself, but Pearl and I usually play it together.”

”Wait, do you live with Pearl?”

”Yeah, I live with her in her mansion on Mount Nantai.”

”Oh cool! So you guys are roommates?”

”Yeah, Pearl let me move in with her when we started to work on music together.”

”Well, that was sweet of her!”

”Yeah, you should come to visit our place sometime. The view from the top of the mountain is breathtaking!”

”Yeah I could totally come some day, but I already got a beautiful view right here!” Lucas put his hand under Marina’s chin.

She giggles and blushed. “Awww, heh heh, thanks!”

”So what games do you play?” Lucas asked.

”Oh, well we recently got the demo for Mussel Odyssey, it’s pretty fun!”

”Oh, well I got the same game right here! You wanna play?”

”I’d love to!”

”Alright then, I’ll set it up.” Lucas turned on his Ancho-V Zii and loaded up Mussel Odyssey. “I already got through most of the game, so I hope there aren’t too many spoilers.”

”Oh no it’s fine,” said Marina, “I won’t tell Pearl anything that happened. We haven’t gotten the full game yet, and she’ll kill anyone who gives out spoilers!”

”Oh cod!” Lucas and Marina laughed, “Don’t worry we won’t tell her anything!” They both picked up a V-Con (The Ancho-V Games Version of a Joy-Con) and they started playing. “You can be Mussel if you want,” said Lucas. 

“Oh no it’s fine, I’ll just be Carpy!” Marina replied. (Carpy is just Cappy but in the Splatoon universe! XD) 

“Okay then, let’s get started!”

Lucas selected his file and it loaded to where he last saved. He was currently in Crumbleden in the Ruined Ocean (instead of Kingdom). “Wait I haven’t gotten this far, what’s going on?” asked Marina. “Okay basically the ship crashed here and we have to find Power Suns (instead of Moons) in order to repair it.” 

“Okay then.” Marina used her controller to control Carpy, and she just made him circle around Mussel. 

Lucas laughed, “Marina, what are you doing?” 

“Wheeee!” she said as she moved Carpy far across the map. They both laughed. Marina moved Carpy over by a wall on the left and something caught her eye. “Hey, there’s some sort of railing on this wall.”

Lucas saw it too, “Oh yeah, there must be something back there.” Lucas controlled Mussel to move across the railing and into an area behind the wall. There was a treasure chest surrounded by coins. Lucas controlled Mussel to throw Carpy at the treasure chest, and it opened up with a Power Sun inside. “Ooh, good eye, Marina!” 

“Thanks!” She replied. They went back around the wall the other way, and they took the path they were supposed to take. It was a tall slope of dark bricks which lead to a pin stuck in the ground. Marina moved Carpy towards the pin and he removed it from the ground and an ink-rail appeared (instead of a pylon, it’s an ink-rail in this game, but the same thing more or less!).

Lucas made Mussel through Carpy onto the ink-rail and he possessed it. He then rode across the rail all the way up to a large, circular castle platform floating in the sky. When they got there the game switched to a cutscene. Marina didn’t know what was going on in the cutscene, and she was surprised to see an enormous sea dragon (instead of the large dragon that was in Super Mario Odyssey) come out from underneath the castle. It was time for a boss battle!

”Oh cod!” said Marina, “what do we have to do?!”

”We’ll figure it out as we fight,” said Lucas.

the first thing the sea dragon did was shoot a lightning bolt from its mouth onto the center of the platform, and from it spawned three rolling discs of purple lightning. Lucas controlled Mussel to dodge them. Then the sea dragon slammed its head onto the stage and created paths of lightning, which Mussel jumped over. Then the sea dragon stopped. Lucas controlled Mussel and jumped on top of the sea dragons head.

”Hey look,” said Marina, “those pin things are in his head.” Marina controlled Carpy to move towards the pins and remove them. There were only three, and when she removed them. The sea dragons crown came off, revealing a glowing patch on its head.

“That must be his weak point!” said Lucas. He controlled Mussed to jump in the air and perform what was called a “ground-pound” making him slam onto the weak point. “I think we hit it!” 

“Nice job,” said Marina.

Suddenly the sea dragon flung his head up and Mussel was launched back onto the platform. The battle continued and the sea dragon used the same moves, only each time he shot more lightning, the number of discs increased, and when he slammed his head down, the paths of lightning were harder to dodge. Also, the number of pins in its head increased. Lucas and Marina worked together and they eventually defeated the boss. 

“Woohoo, we did it!” Said Marina.

“Yeah!” said Lucas. They high-fived. The sea dragon slammed its head down in defeat, and from it came a Multi-Sun (instead of a Multi Moon). They collected the multi-sun and went back to the ship, where they repaired it. “Nice, we can travel again.”

”All right!” said Marina, “that was fun!” 

“Yeah it was, you know, this game has such a good soundtrack. The music is so catchy!” said Lucas.

”Yeah it does,” said Marina, “Wait, don’t you play an instrument?”

”Yeah, I have a keyboard, do you want to see it?”

”Of course!”

“Okay then, uh, should we keep playing the game or do you want to stop?”

”I’m good, I don’t want to get too far into the game.”

”Okay then.” Lucas took Marina into his room and brought out his keyboard. He turned it on, “What would you like me to play?” He asked.

”Whatever you want,” replied Marina.

”Okay then.” Lucas played an excerpt from Muck Warfare. Marina gasped as she immediately recognized the song. As Lucas continued playing, Marina started singing the words and going along with the song. The two of them laughed until Lucas eventually played a wrong note. “Aw shoot!” Lucas cringed and stopped playing, “sorry about that.”

”No no no that was amazing!” Marina said, clapping. Lucas blushed.

”Thanks,” he said, “but I’m sure you’ve heard better...”

”Actually no I haven’t, Pearl can’t even play as good as you!”

”Does she even play an instrument?”

”...No actually.” The two laughed.

”Did I ever tell you that you have a beautiful singing voice?”

Marina blushed. “...You really think so?”

”Yeah, it’s like,” Lucas rested the side of his head on his fist, “listening to an angel sing...”

”Awwww,” Marina tilted her head a little as she folded her hands and brought them to the side of her face, “you’re too sweet!”

”Thanks... so, do you want to do something else?”

”Sure, maybe we can just relax and watch TV air something.”

”Okay then.”

The two lay on the couch cuddled up by each other and watched some TV. Lucas turned and wrapped his arms around Marina. “Oh Marina,” he said, “you’re the best!”

She giggled, “Awww no,  _you_ are!” They both giggled and got closer as they nuzzled each other’s head. Lucas, seeing his chance, kissed Marina on the cheek. Her eyes widened, and as she turned her head towards Lucas, he turned his head away in embarrassment. But then, Marina’s surprised expression faded into a smile. “Awwwww,” she said, and she hugged Lucas tightly. Lucas did the same, and they just stayed like that for a while, embracing the joy and warmth of their partner, feeling happier than ever.

"YES YES!!! I FINALLY DID IT!!!!!!!!!" Lucas thought.

It was a bit late at night, Marina yawned. “Hm hm, you tired?” Lucas asked.

Marina nodded in agreement and said, “Mmm hmm...” She rubbed her eyes, “Are we just gonna sleep on the couch again tonight?”

”Well actually,” Lucas said, “since my bed is big enough for two people, I was wondering, if you’d like to, maybe... sleep with me in my bed?”

Marina turned to Lucas, slightly wide-eyed. “Oh, I’d love to, Lucas.”

”Okay then, let’s get ready for bed then.”

Lucas went into his room and changed into a nightshirt and shorts. Marina changed into a long sleeve button-down pajama shirt and pants (the same outfit she wore for the Breakfast Splatfest). She went into Lucas’ room, and Lucas was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her. “So are you left side or right side person?” he asked.

”Right side is okay,” Marina replied.

”Okay then.”

Marina crawled in on the right side of the bed. “Ooh, it’s so comfy!” she said, kneading the mattress with her hands.

”Yeah I guess it is,” said Lucas, “But I’m sure you’ve seen better mattresses and probably bigger beds.”

”Yeah my bed is a bit bigger than this but I really like this one too.”

”Alright then,” said Lucas. Marina laid on her back and looked up at the ceiling. Lucas turned over to face her, “So do you fart a lot in bed?”

”W-what?” Marina laughed as she looked over at him, “No, not really... do you?”

”Ehhh,” Lucas said, as he looked up and tilted his hand from side to side. They both laughed, and then they sighed and smiled as the looked into each other’s eyes. “Welp, goodnight Marina.” 

“Goodnight.”

Lucas turned over and turned off the lamp and laid down on his back. Marina was turned so that her back was facing him. Lucas closed his eyes pretending to sleep, then he opened them, scooted closer to Marina, turned over and hugged her. Marina opened her eyes and said, “Awwww,” then she also turned over and hugged him. Eventually, they both fell asleep, wrapped around each other.

—————————————————————

While the world up above was asleep, down below, deep underground, something was lurking, something devious.

A figure in the shadows was preparing a deadly weapon. She picked up a silver dart with a picture of a skull and crossbones on it. She rolled it across her fingers feeling the smooth texture and then loaded it into a dart gun. A second figure walks towards the first from behind. “So you found her?” The second figure asked.

”Yes.” said the first figure, “We’ve located her above the surface, just like I said.”

”Perfect...” said the second figure. The first figure placed the dart gun into a pocket on her belt. “Finally,” She says, “after all these years, we finally found her!”

“Just to make sure, tomorrow, we go to her, take her, and then we will strike at some point, correct?” Asked the second.

”Correct,” said the first, with a devilish grin, “but I’ll be in charge of that.” She laughed, “you and the other soldiers will wait for me down at the canyon, and stay out of sight until I come back. Understand?”

“Yes ma’am!” said the second figure, and she walked back to where she came. The first figure once again laughed diabolically and rubbed her hands together across her leather, fingerless gloves.

“She’ll never see it coming, it’s time she gets what she deserves...”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Salmon Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas, Marina, Pearl and Henry do a Salmon Run match together. However, Marina has no idea she’s about to get into a lot of trouble!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably should’ve noted earlier that Lucas and Marina have the exact same body height, although Marina’s hair makes her look a little taller.

The sun rose, shining brightly through the window of Lucas’ bedroom. The light shone into Marina’s eyes, forcing her to slowly open them. She yawned as she stretched out her long, slender arms and legs. She looked over to her side and sees Lucas still asleep. She smiles. “Rise and shine!” she said. Lucas uncomfortably hummed a little as he opened his eyes. 

“Mmm, good morning Marina.” He said, as he wrapped his arms around her body (They stopped hugging when they both fell asleep last night). She hugged back. She looked at the digital clock on Lucas’ dresser, it said 7:40. 

Marina’s eyes suddenly opened wide, “Oh shoot”, she said, “I gotta go!” She tried to get off the bed, but Lucas held her tightly. “Lucas,” she said, grunting as she tried to escape his grasp, “C’mon!” 

“But you’re so warm!” He said, pulling her closer to him.

”No! Ugh, Lucas, seriously! I’ll be late for work!” Lucas didn’t listen and kept hugging her. She pried his arms off of her and got off the bed. Lucas looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. “Just listen for a second!” Marina said angrily, walking out of the room. Lucas watched her walk out, then looked down and puts his hand in his face. His stomach growled a little, indicating he was hungry. He patted his stomach, then got up out of bed and got ready to start the day.

He got dressed, then walked into the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of cereal. In the meantime, Marina was busy in the bathroom quickly getting herself ready and dressed in her studio outfit (she brought it with her along with her casual clothes). Then she went into the kitchen.

Lucas didn’t get a bowl out for her or anything, so Marina started frustratingly searching the cabinets. “Oh I’ll get that for you,” Lucas says.

”No, I got it!” Marina says. She found a bowl and a spoon, the sat down at the table and poured herself cereal. After only two bites, she sighed and looked up at Lucas. “Look, I’m sorry I got mad at you. I just don’t like waking up late, because I can’t miss the first news broadcast.”

Lucas replied, ”I’m sorry too, I didn’t understand you were running late.” 

“Well dude, I clearly said it to you, but you wouldn’t listen!”

“Yeah that’s the problem,” he sighed sadly, “I kinda have problems paying attention and focusing on important things.” Marina looked up at him. “Also I can be very forgetful at times. I probably should’ve told you all this when we first started dating. So if it ever looks like I’m ignoring you, I’m not doing it intentionally. I literally can’t control it.”

”Oh, I had no idea, thanks for telling me.”

”Yeah...” Lucas looked down sadly as he eats his cereal. Marina felt bad. She reached across the table and held Lucas’ hand. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Marina, “we all have our downsides. I still really like you!” she smiled.

Lucas’ frown slowly merged into a smile. “Thanks.” He said, holding Marina’s hand. He gently rubbed his thumb back and forth on Marina’s tender hand. She did the same, as the two smiled, staring into each other's eyes, glistening from the sunlight.

They finished up their cereal, then Marina went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she got out, she asked Lucas, “How much time do we have left?”

Lucas checks his Squidphone. “We got like 7 minutes to spare. The square is only about two minutes away.”

“Oh,” said Marina, suddenly realizing her mistake. “Sorry, I’m just used to waking up a little earlier since Mount Nantai is farther away than this place.”

”So you yelled at me for no reason?” said Lucas, a bit harshly.

“Well, sorry! I was just worried I’d be late.”

Lucas groaned and sighed, “It’s okay.”

”I guess we could just talk a little before I leave.”

”Yeah...” Lucas thinks about what to say, “so I hear you like heavy machinery, doesn’t it like, remind you of your childhood or something?”

“I told you I don’t like to talk about my childhood!”

”Oh sorry, I forgot.”

” _Lucas wasn’t kidding when he said he was forgetful!_ ” thought Marina, then she spoke, “But yeah, I do like heavy machinery a lot! It just always seemed so fascinating I guess.”

”Yeah, I kinda like machines too. When I was in school I’d sometimes do some robotics and build things, it always seemed pretty interesting.”

”Cool!”

”So, you like, use some machinery to build your stages?”

”Yeah, first I make the blueprints, then I help make the stage itself, along with help from some other construction workers. I just love operating the equipment!”

”Now that’s amazing! I think you’re a really creative person, Marina.”

”Aww, thanks!”

”I’m also pretty creative too. I draw occasionally and I create my own music sometimes too!”

”You make your own music? Sweet!”

”Yeah, I guess I got inspired by several bands, like the Squid Sisters.”

”Oh, I LOVE the Squid Sisters!”

“Me too!”

”I was into music before I knew about the Squid Sisters, but when I heard them for the first time, I TRULY got inspired!”

”Nice!”

”Yeah, anyways I better get going.”

”Okay, do you need me to drive you?”

”No I drove here myself, it’s okay.”

”Alright, oh! Don’t forget, we’re gonna do some Salmon Run today!”

”Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me. We’ll be ready after we announce the first stage rotation.”

”Okay.”

Marina picked up her things and opened the door. Then Lucas stopped her. “Oh wait,” he said, “before you go.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Bye!”

Marina smiled and kissed him on the cheek back. “Bye!” She stepped out the door and walked down the hall to the elevator. Lucas waved bye as she walked away, then his eyes widened, and he stepped back inside his apartment.

”Oh shoot!” he said, “I forgot to brush my teeth!” He got a text from Henry.

[Hey dude, are you up?]

[Yeah, I’m guessing you slept over at Sam’s?]

[Yup, crazy night again, as always. Almost put a lampshade over my head lol! Anyways I’ll meet ya down at the Square]

[You gonna grab some Crust Bucket food?]

[Nah I already ate a bit]

[Alright just making sure, also don’t forget salmon run today!]

[oh yeah! Can’t wait! See ya!]

[Later]

Lucas put his phone away, then went to brush his teeth. 

* * *

Marina was able to make it in time to do the first stage rotation of the day. Lucas went down to the Square to catch up with his friends. He found a table where his friends Sam and Caroline were sitting.

Caroline was a good friend of Lucas’. She was a 16-year-old inkling girl with magenta eyes and light apricot skin. Her go-to outfit was the Pilot Goggles, the Slash King Tank, and a pair of Annaki Arachno Boots. Her go-to weapon is the Foil Flingza Roller.

She can be described as a loose cannon, but she’s calm when she needs to be. She’s cool and kind and loved to hang with her friends. She also had quite a muscle buildup like Lucas, so she has no problem attracting boyfriends. Although, she can’t keep a boyfriend because they'd ditch her for a hotter looking girl that they look at and immediately fall in love. It is upsetting, but she’s learned to live with it and hang out with her friends in the meantime until she can find a good boyfriend.

”Lucas, my man!” said Caroline, high-fiving him and giving him a pat-on-the-back hug. “How’s it goin’?”

”Pretty good!”

”Cool, so Sam and Henry told me, you’re dating Marina now? Like THE Marina?”

”Yep, not kidding, she's my girlfriend.”

”Dude that’s amazing!”

”Thanks, we’ve been doing really good with our relationship lately!”

”Sweet, man I wish I could have a good relationship...” Caroline looked down, a little sad.

”Daww, hang in there Caroline,” Lucas patted her on the shoulder, “I know you’ll find a great guy out there someday because you’re one cool girl!”

”Thanks, Lucas.” She perked up a bit

”So um, where’s Henry?”

”He went into a turf war battle, he should be back in a few minutes,” said Sam.

”C’mon he could’ve just waited! Oh well. Wait what were the stages? I missed the newscast.”

”One of them was Starfish Mainstage,” said Caroline.

”Okay that’s not far, he should be back shortly for us to do our Salmon Run shift. You guys wanna do one later?”

”Nah we’re good. Besides they can only take 4 people.”

”I meant AFTER this shift.”

”It’s okay we’ll just do some turf war,” said Sam.

Suddenly, Lucas saw Pearl and Marina in the distance. They were walking over to the table in their studio outfits. Some fans noticed them and started to crowd around them, but Pearl and Marina just waved and walked on by. Lucas was about to shoo them away but there weren’t as many and they already had it covered.

”Hi Lucas!” said Marina, coming over and giving him a big hug. Lucas hugged back,  but it didn’t last too long since he saw some people staring. He wondered if people would be aware of his relationship and he’d be all over the news. That worried and excited him at the same time. 

“Waddup, yo!” said Pearl coming in.

”Hi Pearl,” said Lucas, then he looked to his side and saw Caroline staring in awe. “Oh! Pearl, Marina, this is my friend Caroline.”

“Hello!” said Marina, waving. 

“Sup!” said Pearl, holding her hand up for a high-five. Caroline shortly hesitated and high-fived her hand.

”Oh man! It’s an honor to get to meet you guys! I really love your music!”

Marina laughed, “Well who doesn’t?”

”Good point, and Pearl, I just wanna say that you are one shell of a rapper!”

”Ah! Why thank you! I get that a lot,” said Pearl in a fancy-like tone. They all laughed. “So uh, where’s Henry?”

Lucas replied, ”He’s coming back from a battle, he should be here any min-”, just then, Henry came out of the Lobby and waved to everyone in the distance. 

“Hey, guys!” He shouted, then he ran over to the table.

“About time!” said Lucas.

”Calm down dude, it was just one battle!”

”It’s fine, anyways are you ready.”

”I was born ready, dude.”

”Excellent, let’s go, see you guys later!”

”Bye!” said Caroline.

”Have fun!” said Sam, and then Lucas, Marina, Pearl and Henry walked over to Grizzco Industries.

 When they arrived they were immediately greeted by Mr. Grizz. “Right on time kids! There’s work to do!” He said, “What’ll it be today?”

”We’ll do a Freelance, all 4 of us together.”

”Alrighty then, get your gear on and let’s head out! Those golden eggs won’t catch themselves!”

The four friends went into the changing room, got their gear on, then they headed out to the back door where the boat docks were. They all boarded the boat and floated off to Lost Outpost, where today’s shift was located.

They sat in the front of the boat staring out at the ocean. The boat gently swayed up and down as they went across some waves, but nobody minded, except Marina. Lucas was taking in the view until he looked over to the right and saw Marina looking down sickly. Her face looked slightly green and she groaned silently. “Are you okay?” Asked Lucas, worried. 

“Y-Yeah I’m f-fine,” said Marina. She hiccuped a little and puffed her cheeks. Lucas was worried she’d throw up, he didn’t know what was happening. 

He put his hand on her head, “You look sick...”

Pearl looked over to Lucas, she was sitting on Marina’s right side. “Yeah she gets seasick pretty easily,” she said, “it helps if you hold her hand.” Pearl did so, putting her left hand on Marina’s right.

”Thanks, Pearlie!...” Marina said, smiling a little. Lucas did the same, holding Marina’s left hand, their fingers interlocking. She turned to him and her smile grew a little more. “Aww, thanks, Lucas.” She leaned her head on his shoulder, but due to them having the exact same height (probably should’ve mentioned that near the beginning of the story), she had to scoot to the side a little so she had room.

Lucas smiled and leaned his head on hers, her soft, comfy tentacles making for a great headrest. Without anyone looking, he kissed her on top of one of her hair tentacles. Marina felt happier and less sick. Lucas didn’t even notice that Henry reached over and put his hand on top of his. Lucas looked over and saw him trying to keep a straight face. “Dude!” he said. Henry couldn’t hold it in, he smiled then laughed. Lucas shook his hand off. “Yeah, VERY funny!” he said.

”Yeah that was hilarious,” replied Henry, “Anyways...” he looked around to make sure the two girls weren’t listening, then he whispered to Lucas. “You really love her, don’t you?”

”Wha?! Uh- um...” said Lucas, getting a little nervous.

”Just admit it, dude...”

Lucas took a deep breath and whispered back, “Okay so I do, but... how do I tell her that?”

”You haven’t confessed yet? Well, it’s okay, you just gotta wait for the right moment.”

”You think I’ll be able to do it?”

”I know you will dude!”

”Thanks, man...” Everyone suddenly realized they finally arrived at Lost Outpost.

“We’re here!” said Pearl. They all super-jumped off the boat and landed in the center of the area. The weapons were set: The Splattershot Pro, which Lucas got, the Heavy Splatling, which Marina was equipped with, the Splat Dualies, which Pearl wielded, and the Inkbrush, which Henry obtained. Marina was happy to get a heavy-machinery weapon. “Woohoo!” She said, “I love this thing!” Pearl was also happy to get her dualies, “Yeah boy, let’s show these salmonoids who’s boss!” Suddenly, the egg basket sprang up, and the first wave started.

They finished that wave successfully, and the second one as well. When the second one was over, everyone jumped back to the center and got new weapons. Lucas got the Heavy Splatling this time, Marina got the Splattershot Pro, Henry got the Splat Dualies, and Pearl got the Inkbrush. 

“Last wave guys,” said Lucas, “Let’s do this!” The tide went down, revealing a larger area over by the one side of the Outpost. 

“This way,” shouted Marina as they inked and swam their way to the other egg basket that popped out. 

“The egg basket is ready, now go get me some more eggs!” said Mr. Grizz.

The wave started, and two horns sounded. That wasn’t a good sign. A Steelhead came up from the water, followed by a Maws on the other side of the area. Lucas went over to take care of the Steelhead. He charged up, shot some  Chum that were down below, then he went for the bomb above the Steelhead. He didn’t have enough ink to make the bomb explode, so the Steelhead threw it down, and Lucas quickly swam away. He tried again and this time he could defeat the Steelhead and get its eggs, he tried to collect one but got swarmed by Salmonoids and was Splatted.

He collected an egg from his lifesaver and Pearl came over to revive him. They worked their way through large areas of green ink and put the eggs in the basket. Meanwhile, Marina was trying to kill a Drizzler until she was swarmed by some Chum and a large Cohock. She backed away and tried to avoid, for she was out of ink. She screamed, but then Lucas came to the rescue and killed the Salmonoids. “Thank you so much!” She said to Lucas.

”No problem, I didn’t wanna see you get hurt.”

”Awww!”

Lucas noticed that Henry threw a Splat Bomb in the Maws’ mouth, and it exploded and left some eggs. Lucas and Henry retrieved the eggs and added them to the basket. Pearl saw a Stinger spawn in the distance, along with some more Salmonoids. She used one of her special pouches, a Stingray, and she fired at the distant Salmonoids. The Stinger’s own ink laser hit her a bit, but she was fine. She yelled at the others to go get the eggs. Marina refilled her ink and tried to fight the Drizzler. It shot out a torpedo and Marina shot the torpedo and it flew back towards the Drizzler, killing it and leaving behind eggs. 

The wave was getting intense, with Salmonoids and unclaimed eggs everywhere. Lucas was getting swarmed, but he used his special pouch, a Splashdown, to kill the surrounding Salmonoids, although he didn’t last long after because he got attacked by a Steel Eel. They were currently at 13 out of 17 required eggs. There were a few eggs scattered around, but they were snatched by Snatchers. Lucas tried to swim over to the egg basket, but he moved slowly due to him being in his lifesaver. Marina put an egg in the basket and tried to save Lucas, but she got swarmed and moved back. She then used her special pouch, a Splat Bomb Launcher, and hurled bombs at the Salmonoids. Lucas was revived and he put his egg in, but he was Splatted after taking care of some Salmonoids on top of the nets and he went into his squid form and fell into the water.

Marina’s Launcher didn’t last long either, for she was eventually killed by a Cohock. Henry used his special pouch, an Inkjet, and he soared into the air, shooting at Salmonoids down below. He helped Pearl kill some Salmonoids with his ink blasts and her Inkbrush strokes and helped her get an egg to the basket, but she was pummeled by a Scrapper after. Henry’s special ended, and he landed back onto the ground. They just needed one more egg, Time was running low, and everyone but Henry was splatted. They tried to scoot closer to him so they could be revived, but they were blocked off by some Salmonoids. Henry has to do something quick. 

He quickly killed the Scrapper and grabbed an egg, then doing his best to dodge the Salmonoids approaching from all around, he jumped towards the egg basket and at the last second, he shoved the egg into the basket. They won!

Henry cheered and as the Salmonoids went back into the water, he revived everyone else. They all cheered from happiness and excitement. Marina jumped towards Lucas and hugged him tightly. “WE DID IT!” She shouted happily. Then she went over and picked up Pearl and hugged her tightly. 

“WOOHOO!” She cheered.

Lucas and Henry high-fived, “Nice save, my dude!” said Lucas.

”Yeah, thanks!” Henry replied.

Mr. Grizz then interrupted the joyous moment. “Great job you guys, now head back to the boat.” Everyone did so, super jumping all the way back to the boat. It lifted its anchor and floated back to Inkopolis.

They arrived back at Grizzco Industries. “Nice work out there, that’s the type of performance I’m lookin’ for!” Said Mr. Grizz.

“Man wasn’t that exciting?!” Said Lucas.

”It was,” his girlfriend replied, “so much fun!”

”Man you did great out there,” Said Pearl, hugging Henry.

He awkwardly hugged back, “Uh... y-yeah thanks!”

”Let’s get this gear off then get something to eat, does that sound good guys?”

Everyone said “Yeah.”

Pearl and Henry quickly got undressed and walked to a table in the Square. “We’ll see you guys at the table,” Pearl said. Lucas and Marina said “Okay” from behind their dressing rooms.

The two finally got undressed then sat to rest on a bench in the workplace. “We should totally do this again sometime!” said Marina. 

“Y-Yeah, totally,” agreed Lucas. He scratched the back of his head, then asked, “Hey Marina.”

”Yeah?”

”You know,” he said, reaching out and holding Marina’s hand. “ _This is your big moment!_ ” he thought, then he spoke. “You’re a really great person, and... I just wanted to say that I... that I- I-...” The words wouldn’t come out, but then, Lucas looked outside (he was facing the entrance) and saw Pearl being overwhelmed by a crowd of inklings and a few octolings. “I think Pearl is being swarmed by fans!” Marina smile faded, then she looked behind and saw.

”Uh oh!” she said.

”Don’t worry I’ll help her out.” Lucas ran outside.

”Okay, But Wait!” It was too late, he already went. Marina looked down sadly, but then she smiled and rested her head on her hand. Then, her daydreaming was interrupted.

An octoling, standing on top of the roof of a wall adjacent to Grizzco Industries. She silently climbed down behind the shadow of the building, and slowly crept through the light and she entered the building. 

Mr. Grizz saw her and said, “Oh hi, welcome to Grizzco Industries. What can I help you with?” Marina looked up and saw the figure standing in the doorway. Her expression faded from happy into curious and worried. 

“Uh... w-who is that, Mr. Grizz?”

”I don’t know,” he turned back to the figure, “you seem new here, would you like a tutorial?”

Suddenly, the Octoling pulled out an Octoshot and sprayed Mr. Grizz in ink, knocking him off of the cooler he was standing on. “Mr. Grizz!” Shouted Marina. She looked up and saw as the figure slowly walked towards her. She stepped backward until she was up against a wall. “W-w-who are you?” She trembled, “What do you want from me?!”

The octoling spoke, “After all these years, we finally found you...”

Marina repeated a littleness louder, “Who are you?!”

”You don’t recognize me?” The octoling went forward more and stood underneath a light, clear enough for Marina to see who the figure really was.

She gasped, “OCTAVIA!!”

Octavia laughed, “Yep, it’s me!”

Marina tried to be a bit more reasonable, but she still trembled in fear. “Uh... h-h-Hey, how's it going? N-n-Nice new glasses you g-got there.” (This was the first time marina saw the remodeled octogoggles, now called the octoshades)

”A lot has changed ever since that fateful day... but let’s cut the small talk, you know why I’m here.”

”N-no I don’t!”

”You left our society two years ago, abandoned everything, you basically left us to rot! You were a great engineer, why did you have to leave?”

”I-it’s not my fault! Octavia, those glasses, t-that music, it’s all controlling y-”

“YOU SHOULD’VE STAYED!!!” Octavia shouted.

”Y-you don’t understand!”

”How could you possibly live with these horrendous inklings?! They’ll only betray you, like how YOU betrayed US! Last chance Marina, rejoin the society, and live the life you should've lived all along...”

Marina got mad, “NO! I not gonna go back to a society that hyp-“

Octavia did an evil laugh, interrupting Marina, “That’s too bad. You know, I was going to let you off easy, but now you’ve left me no choice but to continue our regularly scheduled plan...” She grinned.

“W-What’s that?”

“Let’s just say, that when I’m done with you, you’ll never see the light of day again!”

Marina panicked, then she called for help, “LUCAS!! PEARL!! HENR-”

Octavia put her hand over Marina’s mouth. She tried to twist her head and move aside, but Octavia pinned her to the wall. She then reached over and punched a nerve between Marina’s neck and shoulder. This made her cringe and caused her to uncontrollably turn into an octopus. On the floor, she tried to jump away, but Octavia grasped her and picked her up. Then she pulled out a jar from her backpack and stuffed Marina inside it, then screwed the lid on tight. It had holes in it, so Marina could still breathe, but she was trapped! Marina tried to turn back into a humanoid, but the space was so small, she was stuck as an octopus. 

“Hey, let her go!” said Mr. Grizz, on the floor. Then Octavia threw a bomb at him, covering his whole body in ink. “Ouch!”

In the meantime, Lucas was helping Pearl and Henry clear away the fans, when he heard Marina’s screams. “Guys, did you hear Marina?”

Pearl replied, “Yeah I think so, was she screaming our names?”

”Something might be wrong...” said Henry. The three inklings then ran up back to Grizzco. Lucas was leading the way. Octavia, putting the jar back in her backpack, ran out of Grizzco, but bumped into Lucas. They both fell on the floor, then Lucas, coming to his senses, looked up and saw Octavia. He then realized, the hair, the glasses, the kelp, he was looking at an Elite Enemy Octoling! Octavia panicked as the group stares at her, then she looked back and forth, then got back up and jumped into the manhole over by Ammo Knights. 

Lucas was frozen, he just stared at the manhole. “Was that a...”

”Lucas are you okay?” said Henry, walking up behind Henry.

Pearl said, “You bumped into someone...”

”N-no, I-I-it _can’t_ be!” Lucas then ran into Grizzco, and saw that there was magenta ink with glitter in it spread out all over the floor.

”Woah,” said Pearl, “What happened here?” Lucas picked up a bit of the ink with his finger and felt it across his fingertips. 

“No... no no no” he thought. Then everyone saw Mr. Grizz lying on the floor, covered in ink. 

“Mr. Grizz!” They all shouted. They helped him up and put him back on the cooler. 

“Thanks, guys,” he said.

Henry asked, “What on earth happened?”

”I’m not entirely sure. First, I see this person comin’ into the building, and then BAM, they shoot me. I lost transmission for a second there, then I saw and it looked like that person was taking Marina!”

Everyone has a surprised expression on their face. Lucas put his hands on his head in panic. “Nononononononono!”

”Lucas, what’s wrong?” Asked Pearl.

”This CAN’T be happening!”

* * *

Down below in Octo Canyon, Callie and Marie were sitting by Cuttlefish Cabin having a fun little conversation. However, it was shortly interrupted when Octavia appeared out of the manhole. They looked at her and panicked. “GAH!” shouted Callie, hugging Marie in fear, “An octoling!”

”What the shell?!” Replied Marie, “How did they get passed us?!”

Octavia walked past the two girls and yelled, “Alright girls, you can come out now!”

Suddenly, a bunch of other octolings emerged from Tentakeel outpost and came up to Octavia. Callie and Marie were terrified. “What did you DO THIS TIME, OCTAVIO?!” Shouted Marie at DJ Octavio, who was being held inside a snow globe in the corner.

”I swear I got nothing to do with this!” Replied Octavio, “I’m not controllin’ these guys! OCTAVIA, WHAT’S GOING ON?!”

”Can it, DJ!” said Octavia, “You don’t lead us anymore, we lead ourselves now, and we’re gonna rebuild this society better than you could ever imagine! After we do just one little thing...”

Octavia then took off her backpack and revealed the jar containing the once-evil octoling that everyone loved. She unscrewed the jar and Marina came out and went back into her humanoid form.

”MARINA?!” Shouted Callie and Marie. Marina was confused, but looking around, she suddenly realized where she was.

”Octo Canyon...” she said silently.

Then she looked over and saw the Squid Sisters. “C-Callie?! Marie?!” she said. Then she saw Octavio and was even more confused. “What’s going on??” Before she could get any sort of answer, she was picked up by two octolings and pinned against a wall by the rock arc. She grunted as she tried to escape. “Help!” She called out to the two girls by the cabin. Marie put down her parasol and grabbed out a Hero Charger that she had hidden under the bench. 

She charged the gun. “Let her go,” she said.

”Yeah!” Callie joined in, “or you’ll have to go through us!”

Octavia rolled her eyes, then she clapped twice and a group of octolings, all armed with weapons, walked towards Callie and Marie, with their weapons pointed at them. The cousins stepped back and held their hands up, then Marie ran behind the Cabin, grabbing Callie’s hand to take her with her. They escaped just nearly missing the ink shots from the octolings that followed them. Marie opened the sliding door behind the cabin and the two hid inside. The shots from an Octo Splatling could be heard slamming on the door. Marie blocked it off so they couldn’t get in. The octolings, however, banged on the door even though it was locked. 

Callie and Marie were absolutely horrified. They could never survive against Octarian ink! Callie hugged Marie tightly as they scooted back to the farthest corner of the cabin. “What do we do? What do we do?!” Callie said, frightened.

”Hey, shh shh shh, it’s okay,” said Marie, patting Callie’s head to try and soothe her, “We’ll get through this, don’t worry... I know! Let’s call Agent 4!”

”Yeah, he’ll know what to do! He’ll show those octarians who’s boss!”

Marie pulled out her phone and dialed Lucas. In the meantime, Callie looked through a thin window near the ceiling of Cuttlefish Cabin, so she could see what was currently going on.

Marina was still pinned to the wall, but she tried to escape by turning into an octopus. This let her slip out of Octavia’s hands, but they caught her again, and then Octavia pulled out this weird-looking chip. It’s was a silvery-bulky cube, on top was a screen that showed a silhouette of an octoling octopus, on the bottom were four sharp wires each coming out of the bottom corners. Octavia took this chip and pushed it right into the back of Marina’s head. The pain of the wires stabbing into her skin made Marina squeal, then all of a sudden Marina uncontrollably turned back into a humanoid. The picture on the screen then changed to a silhouette of a humanoid Octoling. 

Marina tried to change back into an octopus, but she couldn’t, she just morphed back into a human before she was halfway into becoming an octopus. She was confused. “Ha, I thought you were smart!” cackled Octavia. “That chip right there prevents your ability to turn into an octopus, now you won’t slip away this time.” Marina panicked and try to pull the chip out, but she couldn’t. It was too painful and it stuck in her head.

The octolings once again pinned Marina to the wall. “Hand me the rope,” demanded Octavia. Marina tried to shake free, for she knew what they were gonna do next, but she couldn’t. The next thing she knew, Octavia was wrapping the rope around her, starting from her legs, that working herself up. The octolings forced her hands down and the rope pinned her arms to her body. Marina struggled more than ever but it was no use. Soon her whole body was tied. 

“Let me go!” Marina finally shouted.

”You can’t always get what you ask for, Marina.”

”Oh, YOU’RE one to talk!”

Octavia grew angry, then she signaled a nearby octoling, and they handed her a white bandana. As it approached Marina’s face, she tried to move her head away and shake her body free, but the surrounding octolings held her steady, no matter what she did, it was no use. 

“Nonononononono- mmph!” Octavia tied the bandana around Marina’s mouth, now she couldn’t speak! Octavia grabbed one of the loops of the rope and held up Marina.

“Hahaha, we got you now!” Octavia laughed diabolically, then she looked around noticing no one else always laughing. “LAUGH!” she demanded. The octolings obeyed, awkwardly laughing beside her.

Callie gasped as she saw all of this. “Marie,” she said, bending back down to the ground, “they got her all tied up!”

”Uh oh!” her cousin replied, “Agent 4 better get here soon!...”

* * *

 Lucas paced around the building. “No no no there is NO WAY this is all happening.” Suddenly, his phone buzzed. He was getting a call, so he picked up the phone and saw the name of the caller; It was Marie.

”Marie is calling you?” Asked Pearl.

”Like, THE Marie?!” Henry added on.

Lucas shushed then both, then press the answer button. 

(Note, for this chapter, anything in “{}” represents a phone call)

{Hello?}

{Agent 4! I’m glad you were able to answer!}

{What’s going on?}

{Uhh... we got a bit of uh, situation down in Octo Canyon...}

{...W-What kind of situation?}

{D-ahh it’s uh, nothing TOO big, we just need ya to come down and uh-}

”UGH!” Callie interrupted, then she swiped the phone from Marie’s hand and shouted, {WE’RE BEING INVADED BY OCTOLINGS!!! AND THEY GOT MARINA!!}

Lucas was so shocked when he heard this, he almost dropped the phone. {I’ll be there as soon as I can!!}

Lucas hung up the phone, then he slowly put it back in his pocket, as he just stared off, keeping the same expression on his face.

”What happened?” Henry asked.

Lucas responded in a bit of a monotone, “Marina’s in trouble!...”

”WHAT?!” Pearl and Henry both said in shock.

”You mean,” Pearl said worriedly, “she’s literally been kidnapped?”

“Yeah...”

”You’re joking!” said Henry.

”I swear this is not a joke!”

"No no no no NO!!!” yelled Pearl, as she punched the wall next to her. “WHO DID THIS?!”

"I don't know!" said Lucas.

“Pearl are you okay?” Henry asked.

Pearl stormed out and sat down on the bench over by where Judd and Lil' Judd was. “Who would do such a thing?!" she ranted, "If anyone tries to do anything bad to her I'll, I'll, I'll RIP THEM APART!!"

”Hey, hey, calm down,” said Henry, trying to comfort her. He patted her on the back, “It’s going to be okay...” Henry honestly didn’t know if it was all gonna be okay, this was all too much for him.

"Where was she taken to?!"

"Yes, I know where I need to go.” He pointed to the manhole, “down there!”

”Eww, in the sewer?” Pearl said.

”It’s not just any s- Look it’s a long story, but I don’t have much time, I need to save her!"

"WAIT!" Pearl perked up, "That person you ran into. She went into the sewer after leaving Grizzco. She must've come from the sewer first! SHE was the one who took Marina!!"

"That's right," continued Lucas, "Now like I said, I'm going to save her."

Pearl stood up, "Well I'm coming too!"

Lucas panicked a bit, he didn't want pearl to know about Octo Canyon. "No, Pearl, you need to stay here. I'll get her back."

"No way! I'll take down whoever that bad guy was!"

"Pearl please no, I know what I'm doing. Just stay here. Please..."

After hesitating, Pearl plopped back down, frustrated. She closed her eyes and sighed. "I just... I just want her to be okay. I just want to protect her, but now THIS happens..."

Lucas felt her pain, she knelt down and put his hand's on Pearl shoulders. "Don't worry," he said, "I  _promise_ you I will get her back. I'll make sure she comes back safe and sound. Everything will be okay. Just trust me..."

Pearl looked up to him. after a few seconds, she finally spoke, "Okay... I trust you."

Lucas smiled. He looked over to Henry, “Henry, you stay here and watch Pearl. Don’t let anyone else know what’s going on, we don’t want to start any panic. I’ll be back with Marina once I save her.”

”Alright,” said Henry, as Lucas was about to go down the manhole, but then he interrupted and said, “Wait, Lucas!”

”What?” he asked.

”...Good luck down there!”

Lucas smiled and nodded, then he turned into a squid and went down through the manhole and made his way to Octo Canyon, to save the love of his life...

 

 

 

 


	8. Trouble!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marina was kidnapped by enemy Octolings, and Lucas travels down to Octo Canyon to try and save her. Now he must fight through a whole army of octolings in order to save his love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, if y’all think that my last chapter contained BDSM, it DIDN’T. Just because Marina got tied up, that doesn’t make it BDSM! Captain Cuttlefish got tied up twice, is that BDSM?! NO! Normally kidnappers tie up people, not always for BDSM, and ESPECIALLY not for this situation! UGH!! Anyways sorry to anyone who didn’t complain about the last chapter, please enjoy!

“So is he coming?” Asked Callie, nervously.

”Yeah don’t worry,” Replied her cousin, Marie, “he’ll be here as soon as possible.”

There was a banging on the door of the cabin. Callie jumped back in fear. “We have to get out of here!”

”We just can’t get shot.”

”Don’t you have your parasol? That can block the shots!”

”No, I left it outside.”

”Shoot!” Callie looks over by a corner next to a desk in the cabin and sees her Hero Roller. “Hey, my roller! I forgot it was in here! We can get out now.”

”Alright then,” said Marie, “hopefully we can hold them off until 4 gets here. On the count of three, I’m gonna slide the door open, and you’ll splat the octolings waiting there, Okay?”

”Alright I’m ready!” said Callie, standing in position.

”One... two... THREE!!!” Marie quickly swooshed the door open, and Callie slammed her roller down and splatted the octoling by the door. Then she ran out and splatted the other few octolings who were guarding the cabin. Marie stepped out, following her cousin from behind. She ran to the front of the cabin and picked up her parasol. 

Octavia turned around and saw that the two girls escaped. She firmly gripped her Octoshot, which she held behind her back. She then whipped it out and shot at Callie and Marie, but the shots were blocked by the canopy of Marie’s parasol.

”Nice try you filthy Octarian!” said Marie. Callie then prepared herself to do a horizontal swing with her roller and hot Octavia. However, right before she swung it down, Octavia held Marina, who was still tied up, in front of her, and the Ink hit Marina! She closed her eyes and curled up when the ink hit her, and she muffled in pain, but luckily, it wasn’t enough to splat her. Callie screamed in panic, “OHMYGOSH I’M SO SORRY!!!”

”If you guys wanna splat me,” said Octavia, “you’ll end up splatting HER instead! And she won't respawn since she LEFT us! Might as well finish her off,” she held out Marina, who was frightened as ever, “it’ll make our job easier.”

Callie stepped back, she didn’t want to hurt Marina. Marie reached down to the ground with one hand to try and pick up her charger, but Octavia shot at her hand. She immediately jerked her hand back and shook it to try and ease the pain. Any slight movement could lead the two to get seriously hurt from the enemy ink, or worse, splatted! Octavia stepped back, still holding out Marina. “Welp, we’ll be on our way,” she said, “we gotta give Marina was she really deserves!” 

Marina let out a panicked muffle, and as Octavia turned and started to walk, and looked down at her with an evil grin, she thought it was all over until help finally came! Lucas popped out of the manhole, dressed in his agent outfit, grabbed his hero shot, and aimed at the octolings and yelled, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Octavia and the other octolings froze. “4, you made it!” Shouted Callie.

Octavia, holding Marina in front of her, slowly turned her body to face Lucas, and rotated her arm so Marina was now behind her, out of sight from Lucas. “Well well well,” she said, “if it isn’t that little inkling hero we’ve been hearing about!” she said, devilishly. “YOU’RE the one who’s been splatting all of our soldiers?! Pff, what a joke! I mean just look at you!”

Lucas angrily gripped his Hero Shot, still being aimed at the octolings, “Shut it!” He said, “where’s Marina?!”

”Oh, looking for someone?” Octavia held Marina out in front of her. She made muffled noises, calling out Lucas’ name in panic, but she could hardly be heard with the bandana wrapped tightly around her delicate mouth. Lucas gasped and reached his arm out to her, though they were standing like 10 feet away from each other. Lucas’ face filled with rage. He clenched his fist and pointed his weapon directly at Octavia. 

“Let her go!!” he yelled. 

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen!” said Octavia, “She’s in OUR hands now!” Marina squirmed around. “Quit it!” She yelled at Marina and slapped her right across the face. The others gasped and Marina yelped. “Yeah, wait till you see what else we have planned for you, Marina.”

”Why are you doing this to her?!” Yelled Lucas. “She doesn’t deserve this at all! She’s a great person!”

”Because she betrayed us!”

Lucas lowered his gun a bit and gave a confused look, “What do you mean?” 

Octavia looked down at Marina, “You mean you never told him?” Then she looked back up at Lucas, “If you don’t know already, she’s an Octoling. For years she’s worked with us, the Octarian menace. She built robots and weapons and everything. She had a good life, living with us... until that fateful day. You listen to some stupid song and BAM! You leave our society! You leave everything behind! All your hard work wasted! We could hardly find anyone to replace you! You could’ve stayed with us and lived a better life, but NOOOOO! You had to betray us all and move to the surface and live with these DISGUSTING INKLINGS!!!”

Lucas once again got angry, and pointed the gun, “HEY! It’s not her fault she listened to that song. It was her choice to leave, and she’s happy to be up here with the inklings, we’re not as bad as you th-”

”Ha!” Octavia interrupted, “How could she be happy with you people?! You inklings are nothing but trouble.” She looked back down at Marina. “You had a good life Marina, we thought you cared about us, but NO!” She started yelling, “You left us behind, treated us like GARBAGE! Well, guess what? YOU’RE the one who’s garbage! You BETRAYAL! You TRAITOR! You CARELESS, WORTHLESS, PIECE OF CARP!! You make me SICK! You’re a DISGRACE! A HORRIBLE ABOMINATION!! You‘re NOTHING!!” And she went on and on. With each insult, Marina jerked her head back and curled up, then she started crying. 

Lucas finally spoke up. He was absolutely furious. “STOP IT!!!” he screamed.

”Ohhhh, and what are YOU gonna do about it?”

Lucas held up his gun, “I’ll shoot you!”

”Oh come on! It surprises me that you’ve taken out multiple octarians, I mean look at you! I’ll bet you can hardly even handle that thing! Hah! You’re worthless, but not at worthless as her!” She pointed at Marina, “She deserves this! She left us all behind!”

”So what?! Lots of octolings also heard the song and escaped, why are you doing this to HER?!”

”She was the best of the best, and people followed in HER footsteps. And once we’re done with her, all the other octolings of the surface are next!”

”What do you mean? W-what are you gonna do to her?”

Octavia grinned. “Well, we were gonna start with a bit of torture,” she glared at Marina, “PAINFUL torture! Wait till you see what we have prepared! And then eventually, we’ll KILL HER!!”

Lucas was wide-eyed, and Marina panicked. “You can’t do this to her!!” 

“Oh yes I can! Ugh, why am I still wasting my time here with you? We got a lot to do. Anyways we’ll be on our way, it’s time to take Marina down to the surface where she will get what she deserves! Farewell!”

Octavia and the other octolings started to walk down to the kettles of Tentakeel Outpost. Marina turned her body and yelled for Lucas in several muffles, but Octavia quickly jerked her back. Lucas panicked, and his arms started shaking, he didn’t know what to do. “AGENT 4, DO SOMETHING!!” Yelled Marie. Lucas then pulled out his Hero Charger, charged it up, and with his arms still shaking, shot and splatted a random Octoling in the group. The octolings froze. Octavia slowly turned around, with an angry expression on her face.

”I warned ya,” said Lucas.

Then, out of nowhere, Octavia yelled at the top of her lungs, “ATTACK!!” Suddenly, all the octolings in the group started charging at Lucas. He panicked again, but then he picked up his Hero Shot and started to fight.

Luckily, all of his weapons were fully leveled up, so his Hero Shot could fire rapidly. He quickly took out most of the octolings in the front lines, not getting too much ink on him since those octos didn't have much time to shoot. He was slowly approaching Octavia in the back, who still help Marina in her grasp. He was running low on ink, and octoling were shooting ink at them with their varied weapons. He quickly made a path for him to swim in and he went around the octolings. He shot a few until one of them kicked his weapon out of his hands. He quickly submerged in his ink and switched to his hero charger (he had every hero weapon equipped with him at the moment. He spring out from the ink, quickly charged his shots and fired at more octolings. he tried to aim at Octavia, but she was really speedy. She did all sorts of acrobatics in midair to evade Lucas' shots and find a place to stay safe. The octolings kept coming, Lucas' charger wasn't holding them off too well.

"Guys!" He said to the Squid Sisters, "I need some backup!" Marie obeyed and got out her own Hero Charger and swiftly sniped at the enemy octos. Suddenly, a large group of octolings super jumped to Lucas out of nowhere and started dealing heavy damage to him.

"YAAAH!" said Callie as she grabbed her Hero Roller and smushed the octos. She started rolling across the floor squishing more octos who attempted to hide in their glittery pink ink. More octos appeared, one of them pushed Callie to the ground and charged up their octo Splatling. Lucas quickly switched to his Hero Brella and covered Callie. The splatling shots slammed against the canopy of the brella and destroyed it, but the splatling was almost done shooting when it broke, and only a few shots hit Lucas. When the splatling stopped, Lucas fired bursts of ink from his brella and splatted the octo.

Octavia growled as she saw her army was slowly withering down. She called into her walkie talkie, "Guys! I need back up, bring as many octolings as possible! Make sure most of them are elites!" More octolings slowly started coming down from the farther parts of the Outpost towards Lucas. He switched to his own hero splatling, charged it up, and took out the first few octos running towards him. It still wasn't enough, octolings soon started filling up the platform. Callie quickly ran around and hopped onto the roof of the cabin. "Hey!" she shouted. The octolings looked at her and realized she was wielding several splat bombs filled with pink inkling ink. "BOMB RUSH BLUSH!" she shouted, "YAAAAAHHH!!!" as she launched the bombs everywhere onto the ground, splatting several octolings, as Lucas switched to his Hero Roller and helped with the splatting. Octavia backed away, trying not to get even a small stain on her. 

She grunted and yelled into her walkie talkie again, "MORE!!!" Lucas noticed the octolings gradually coming towards him in the distance. He made a vertical swing with his roller but it wasn't enough, so then he threw a curling bomb, which made the octolings run away. A few of them got splatted from the explosion. Lucas switched to his Hero Blaster and charged towards the octolings, splatting them one by one. Octavia filled with rage, and she had enough. She threw Marina to the ground and charged towards Lucas. She pummeled him to the ground, which knocked the blaster out of his hands. Marina screamed in panic, though it was muffled from the bandana. She tried to squirm towards Lucas but she could hardly move. Lucas quickly pulled out a Splat Bomb and threw it. Octavia ran away before any ink could get on her, and went back towards Marina. Lucas switched to his Hero Slosher and ran towards her. Octavia quickly gripped Marina's roped and lifted her into the air. Lucas hurled the bucket back and splashed ink towards Octavia, but she turned around and made the ink hit Marina. She winced as the yellow, glittery ink splashed all over her, luckily not splatting her. Lucas screamed. "Sorry!!" Octavia grinned evilly. Suddenly an Octoling sprang up from behind Lucas, locked her arms around his neck and pulled him back. Marina yelled again in panic, but Marie sniped the Octoling and saved Lucas. 

Callie was currently busy over by the far end of the bridge, holding back the Octarians who were approaching the Cabin. Lucas used his shosher to splat a few Octolings who made it past Callie. Marie kept an eye out for any Octolings trying to sneak past but found none. Octavia called for more reinforcements, but she got furious when the response on the other line was, "We can't send any more Octolings, it's too risky, too many have died already!" She slammed Marina to the ground in fury. Marie heard the slam and drew her attention to the corner between the cabin and the rock arch where Octavia has been for the longest time.

"If you wanna take down the enemy," said Octavia, "you gotta take 'em down yourself!" She ran towards Lucas and shoved him to the ground. He swam in his ink t a safer spot, and stared down at Octavia, as he switched to his Hero Dualies. She grinned, "Ha, and I thought  _we_ were aggressive!"

"Depends on who you're talking about," said Lucas, spinning the dualies around his fingers, ready to fight. It was just him and Octavia now, a literal fight to the death. Shots of pink and yellow were flying everywhere. Lucas did his best to dodge roll away from any incoming shots, and Octavia dodged too, only more skillfully than Lucas. "How are you doing this?" He yelled while still firing.

"Well, eight years of intense military training will really prove to be useful," She responded. Marina painfully watched the two fight, worrying that Lucas would lose, and it would all be over. Her eyes started to well with teal-colored tears, but then Marie jumped down in front of her.

"Don't worry, I'll help ya," she said confidently. 

"Yeah, Marie, you untie Marina," said Lucas.

"I'm workin' on it, 4!"

"Callie, how's it going up there?"

The pink inkling yelled back, "That's the last of em'!"

"Alright, come back here and help me."

As Callie was running back towards the cabin, Marie was busy untying Marina's ropes. They were knotted several times, so she had to use her sharp teeth to help cut the ropes. Once the ropes were off, she removed Marina's bandana. She was free! Marina quickly leaned forward and gave her a big hug. "Thank you!" she said, with a big smile on her face.

Marie hugged her back, "Heh heh, no problem." She helped Marina off the ground and looked towards Lucas and Callie, who were busy fighting Octavia. She dodged the swing of Callie's roller and suddenly started shooting her. Lucas quickly pushed Octavia to the ground before she could do any more damage to Callie. Marie panicked and ran to the battle with her Charger. Lucas ran to Callie and tried to help her. She submerged into her own pink ink and recovered. Marie charged up a shot with her Charger and fired, but Octavia dodged. "Shoot!" she said, then she remembered, "Hey Four, Marina's free."

"Thank you so much!" said Lucas, until Octavia shot him. He dodge-rolled to safety and went by Marina. "Are you okay?"

"Yes I'm fine," his girlfriend replied, "Gimme a weapon, I wanna help fight!"

"Okay, here take this." He handed her his Hero Brush. "Wait, can you still attack with it?"

"Yeah, it's just connected to your ink tank, yeah? I can still use this, just try not to get any ink on me."

"Alright, let's do this!"

They ran into the battle together. "No!" Octavia screamed, realizing Marina was free. She ran towards her until Marina swung her brush and knocked her back. Callie swung down her roller, Marie fired a short burst, Lucas shot a few bullets. Octavia was now almost entirely covered in inkling ink, and she lied on the ground in massive pain. The four slowly closed in on her, ready to finish her off, when all of a sudden, she activated a splashdown. "ENOUGH!!!" She said as she leaped into the air. Everyone ran back, but still couldn't escape its range, and they were all knocked back with her splashdown. 

Marina wasn't hurt since it was Octarian ink. Lucas and Marie were only minorly damaged, but Callie was badly hurt. "Callie!" Marie shouted, running to her aid. 

Lucas sat up a bit. "I didn't know you guys could use special weapons!"

"There's a lot you don't know about us," replied Octavia. Suddenly, she pulled out a small gun from her holster. "Now  _this_!" she said, "You see this dart gun? Each carefully-crafted dart that it shoots is filled with the DEADLIEST poison on the planet! Anyone shot by it will die a slow, painful death." She grinned and pointed the gun right at Marina.

Everyone gasped. Marina tried to grab her brush, which she dropped after the explosion, but Octavia kicked it out of the way. Marina crawled backward and tried to run away, but suddenly, two Octolings super jumped to her left and right side, blocking her escape. "Okay, I was able to send in two recruits. Hope that helps," said the voice from the walkie talkie. Octavia grinned evilly. Marina was practically cornered against the fence. She couldn't turn into an octopus because the chip was still stuck in the back of her head. She hugged her legs and scooted farther back until she couldn't go any further. 

"Any last words?" said Octavia. Marina said nothing, she only made several scared noises as she stared hopelessly at the end of the gun. Lucas knew that if he didn't act soon, the love of his life would die. Quickly he ran towards Octavia. "Huh, that's too bad," she said, about to fire. Marina shut her eyes and prepared for her to get shot when suddenly, WHAM!! Lucas screamed and shoved Octavia to the ground. She fired the dart, only it didn't hit Marina. Octavia was pushed to the left so the dart went to the left and hit one of the Octoings in the arm. The octoling yelped in pain and dropped to the floor. In the meantime, Lucas was furiously pummeling Octavia. 

"NO. BODY. TRIES. TO KILL. MY. GIRL!" He said between each punch. The other octoling did nothing but kneel down over by her now dead partner. Octavia tried to escape in octopus form, but Lucas gripped her tightly and she turned back into a humanoid, gripping her neck and Lucas held her up by it. Staring angrily into Octavia's eyes, Lucas twisted his body and hurled Octavia over the fence and off of the floating island, falling to her demise...

Everyone looked over the fence and saw Octavia getting smaller and smaller as she kept falling. Lucas breathed deeply and angrily, then finally sighed of relief. marina looked back at Lucas, at first with a surprised and slightly scared expression on her face, but then it turned to a smile. Lucas smiled back and held out his hand to help Marina off of the ground when all of a sudden, the other Octoling got up and pointer her dualies right at Lucas. "Uh oh..." he said, realizing he dropped his weapon.

"RUN LUCAS!!" shouted Marina. Just as Lucas was about to run, the octoling rapidly shot at him, knocking off all of his armor as he flew back towards the couch. He fell over in immense pain. "LUCAAAAAS!!!!!!" 


	9. Coming Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the huge battle, everyone recovers. Marina confesses her secret to Lucas, and he does the same, but in the end, all if forgiven, and everything seems back to normal... or is it?

Marina was terrified, her hearts beating rapidly. Lucas was just shot by an enemy Octoling, badly damaged, and the Octoling approached him to finish the job. Quickly, Marina picked up the Hero Brush Lucas gave her and aggressively splashed yellow ink all over the Octoling, splatting her. Marina breathed heavily, then she looked up seeing Lucas' body, doused in Octarian ink. Marina's anger faded to worry in the blink of an eye, and she dropped her Brush and ran to Lucas. She knelt down by his body. He was lying face down, so Marina turned his body over. He groaned and winced in pain. All of his armor fell off, he was shirtless. Marina teared up and put her hands on his shoulders. "Lucas?" she said, "Lucas! Please, please wake up!" The ink slowly started to fade away, Lucas was recovering, he was going to be okay.

Lucas slowly opened his eyes, seeing as his blurred vision faded into focus, and he saw Marina over him. Callie and Marie came over to make sure he was okay. He hummed a bit, then started to speak, "M-Marina?" he said weakly. 

Marina was immediately relieved, "Oh! You're alright!"

Lucas blinked a few times and saw that there were several stains of yellow ink on Marina's body. "Oh no!" he said, "Marina, the ink, it's hurting you!"

"I don't care," she said as the ink started fading away, "I just want you to be okay!" Lucas smiled a bit and 'awwed' quietly. Marina got scared again when she saw Lucas' armor was in bad shape. he was only in shorts and socks and his boots were badly damaged. "Oh no, Lucas, your gear!"

"Don't worry, it regenerates." After he said this, his full armor came back. "See?"

Marina sighed in relief and helped Lucas sit up. "I... I can't believe it, you- you saved my life!"

"Huh?... o-oh, yeah, I- I guess I did-"

Marina hugged him tightly. "Thank you!..." she said in a slightly emotional tone.

"Awww, no problem, I'm always there for the ones who mean the most to me!" They both smiled, Lucas continued, "I guess you saved my life too. One more hit and I would've been a goner! Thank you."

They hugged again and Marina nuzzled him a bit. Callie and Marie smiled (they were already slightly aware that Lucas and Marina were a thing). After hugging, Marina looked into her boyfriend's eyes and smiled, but then she looked down, sadly, and sighed. Lucas frowned in worry and sadness shortly after.

"I guess I have to come clean now..." said Marina.

"W... What do you mean?" replied Lucas.

Marina inhaled, "I... am an Octoling." Lucas was slightly surprised after hearing this, same with Callie, and Marie has a slight 'I knew it' expression on her face. Marina continued, "I- I know, you probably don't really understand, which is, understandable, but basically I-"

"Wawawawait, Marina, Marina!" Lucas interrupted, "The truth is... I knew the whole time."

Marina was legitimately surprised and wide-eyed. "You did?!" she said.

"Y-yeah."

"Well, w-what gave it away?"

"M-mostly your appearance. Your, suction cups are on the outside of your hair, that's, only possible for Octolings. Also, your ears aren't, pointy like an inkling's, and there's no black line between your eyes and, everything else... also your logo is literally an octopus," he chuckled a bit, "I'm surprised nobody else knew."

Marina looked down in shame as she heard all of this, "O-oh," she said.

"You don't really need to explain, I know the whole thing about the Calamari Inkantation turning the Octolings good and they make their way to Inkopolis."

"Oh, okay. Yes, that's correct."

"Does Pearl know you're an Octoling?" asked Lucas.

"No."

"She doesn't?! Then why does she make octopus jokes?"

"She thinks that I'm just PART octopus, not, like, an actual octoling. I'm not even sure if she knows what an octoling is."

"So you never told anyone? Not even your best friend?"

"No, I just couldn't. I mean, I TRIED to explain it to Pearl, but she didn't quite understand, and just went with whatever info she had. I never thought anyone would understand, so for the past two years, I've tried to cover myself up and everyone just assumed I was an Inkling. W-Why didn't you say anything??"

"I-I honestly didn't know what to say. I guess I just wasn't entirely sure, and you weren't saying anything about it, so I just went with it. I guess I was just trying not to scare you if I said that I knew you were an Octoling."

"Oh... I see."

"I don't blame you though, for everyone not understanding. I mean honestly, Inklings are kinda dumb." Marie nodded in agreement after Lucas said this.

Marina chuckled a little but was still sad. "I'm sorry Lucas..."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry that I've been lying to you this whole time," Marina started tearing up, "I mean, I've lied to you about so much, almost everything! I lied to you about my past, my appearance, and *sniff* well, the truth is...... I never had a real family!" She started sobbing right after she said this, her hands covering her eyes as a waterfall of tears started leaking from them, her mouth agape as she whined.

Lucas felt so bad, seeing his girlfriend cry almost made him want to cry. He looked over and saw as Callie and Marie sadly, and helplessly watched this happen. "Hey," Lucas finally said to Marina, "It's okay..." He opened his arms and hugged Marina, wrapping his arms around her arched back, rubbing it a bit with his hand. Marina didn't hug back, she just kept crying as she leaned into Lucas."It's okay," he repeated. Callie and Marie came over and put a hand on her shoulders, trying to help comfort her.

Marina finally spoke as her crying barely subsided, "I've just been so lonely my entire life, and I didn't want to lose my friends. I thought that if any inklings knew who I really was, they would... I don't know, they wouldn't want to be around me anymore. I'm really sorry that I got you roped into this, I honestly didn't think this would happen! I thought... I just..." Marina couldn't finish, but Lucas understood what she was saying.

"Hey, hey, It's okay Marina," he replied.

"No, it's not! I've probably lost all of your trust."

"No, you haven't, Marina. I understand. It's okay. I forgive you. Just calm down..." Marina did so, her crying lessening to only short sniffles. After wiping away some of Marina's tears with his thumbs, Lucas continued, "Listen, I never really cared that you were an octoling," Marina looked up, "If you were an Inkling, I wouldn't think of you any differently."

Marina perked up a bit, "Y-You wouldn't?" she said.

"Of course not! I mean, you'd have a different past and all but, you'd still have your amazing personality. It's not about what you are, it's who you are, and you are an amazing person Marina." 

"He's right," Callie said to Marina, "you're super fresh!"

"Yeah," Marie chimed in, "you're about one of the greatest octolings I've ever met."

Marina smiled a little, "Awww, thanks, guys."

Lucas continued, "It's alright to keep it a secret, but just saying, whether or not people knew, I don't think anyone would think of you any differently. It's okay that you lied, you were only trying to protect yourself and others, that's totally understandable!" Lucas hesitated, and frowned, "I know how you feel... you're not the only one who's been keeping secrets."

"Wh-What do you mean? What's your secret?"

Lucas inhaled, and spoke, "I, am Agent 4, of the New Squidbeak Splatoon." He tilted his head down and closed his eyes in disappointment. Marie was okay with him spilling the beans, he pretty much didn't have a choice in the matter, Marina had already seen too much.

Marina looked at him in confusion, "I- I don't understand. What is that?"

"It's a secret society of Inklings who fight against the Octarian Menace and rescue Zapfish to protect Inkopolis." Marina was a bit shocked, she had no idea this was a thing. Lucas continued, "I- I didn't want to tell you because, I thought, if you found out, then, you wouldn't like me anymore," Lucas started tearing up himself, Marina grew concerned, "Because, how could you possibly like someone who practically hunts down your own kind?... *sniff* and to think I was going to actually try and protect you... I only put you in danger... and I'm so sorry!" Now Lucas was the one who was crying. Marina put her hand to her mouth in realization and sadness. Callie and Marie once again tried to comfort.

Marina spoke up, "Oh, Lucas, it's okay, don't be upset." She tilted his chin up, but he refused to make eye contact, he didn't want her to see him like this. "I forgive you."

Lucas sniffed, "You do?" Marina nodded. "But, but why?"

(This is where it gets sweet and emotional! :3)

"How could I not forgive you? You're the sweetest, smartest, funniest, bravest, cutest, and the most thoughtful guy I've ever met!" Lucas smiled as she said this. "Also, those Octarians are _pure evil_! You saw what they were trying to do to me."

"But, they're all being hypnotized, right?"

"Well, yeah, right. After I was freed, I did some research and found that out."

"But, what if they aren't actually evil and have a chance to be good, and then I just kill them?..."

"Lucas, you don't kill the octolings, they respawn."

"...oh, y-yeah. They have respawn points, right?

"That's right. It's okay Lucas. Even if the octolings aren't actually evil, they're still doing evil things, plus the other octarians aren't hypnotized, so they're _actually_ evil! If you attack people doing bad things, that doesn't make you a bad person. Yes, they're not really in control of themselves, they're pretty much forced to do this, but you really don't have a choice but to stop them, because they're the ones who are trying to attack you first. And remember, the octoling soldiers don't actually die when splatted. The octarians are the ones who are actually trying to kill. Lucas, you're not a bad person. You're only doing it to defend yourself and Inkopolis."

Lucas stopped crying, he started to understand.

"She's right," said Marie. Lucas turned around and looked at her. "You're not the enemy, Agent Four."

Callie chimed in, "You're a hero!"

"Yeah, I mean, you saved the Great Zapfish."

"And you saved me!"

Marina stared at Lucas in awe, "Really? YOU did all of that?!"

"Yeah," he said, smiling, "And I saved you." He stroked her face as she smiled and closed her eyes in pleasure.

She opened her eyes back up and spoke, "I don't care if you hurt those Octarians, Lucas, because I know you'd  _never_ try and hurt me."

Lucas smiled, "Of course I'd never try and hurt you, Marina! You're the kindest, smartest, funniest, most talented, most beautiful, and most amazing person I've ever met in my entire life." Marina's smile grew wider as he said this. He continued, "And I wouldn't even THINK about hurting you!" he took a deep breath, and said it, "Because I love you, Marina..."

Marina blushed and looked at Lucas, surprised and lovestruck at the same time. "You... you love me?" she said quietly. Lucas nodded. Marina hesitated, then started crying tears of joy. "I love you too!" she said, right before leaning forward and hugging Lucas tightly. He hugged back and gently stroked Marina's hair as she cried in his arms.

Callie and Marie both 'awwwed' at the sight. Callie then suddenly hugged Marie. "I love you too," she said. Marie smiled and hugged back. Lucas and Marina stopped embracing each other, and held hands as they looked into each other's eyes. Lucas blushed and looked off as he scratched the back of his head. Marina also blushed and looked off, brushing her large tentacle away from her face. Then they both looked at each other and started to lean in for a kiss.

Callie gasped, as she realized what was happening, "They're gonna kiss!" she said.

"I know!" Marie said. They both eagerly watched, but before their lips even touched, they were soon interrupted...

Marie looked down and saw a pink super-jump landing point. She didn't know what it was until she looked up and saw Octavia. "LOOK OUT!!" She yelled.

"Huh?" said Lucas, but it was too late. Octavia grabbed Marina by the neck from behind and held her into the air. "MARINA!!"

Yup, Octavia wasn't dead! What a twist!! She never fell to her death. After everyone stopped looking over the fence, Octavia grabbed a grappling hook she had in her utility belt (assume she had that the entire time, obviously). She shot the hook and hooked on to a ledge on the island that was far from the cabin. Nobody heard or saw it happen. Octavia zoomed up towards the hook, and reach the ledge. She lifted herself up onto the island. She saw as Lucas flew backward from the shots of the other Octoling. She laughed, the hid behind the rock arch and waited for the perfect time to strike. As she peeked at every moment of Lucas and Marina's conversation, she grew more and more disgusted. Once she found out they were in love, she knew that would be the perfect time to strike. Out of nowhere, she super jumped, landed right behind Marina, and here we are now.

Marina clutched at Octavia's hand as it tightly grasped her neck. She made several gagging noises, indicating she was choking. Her pupils dilated and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. Lucas stared in absolute fear. "What, you thought I was dead?" said Octavia, cocking her head to the side. Everyone noticed that she was only wearing half a pair of octoshades.

" _She's evil even WITHOUT the hypnosis!"_ thought Lucas. He quickly searched his pockets and pulled out his Hero Shot, pointing it at Octavia, threatening to shoot her. "Don't even think about tricking me into hurting Marina again, let her go!" He said, frightened. Lucas' hands shook as he continued to hold his gun. Callie impulsively rushed forward with her roller she picked up, screaming as she was about to attack Octavia, but she saw her coming, and Octavia spun around and kicked her right in the gut, launching her off to the side. She fell onto the floor clenching her body.

"CALLIE!" Marie shouted, quickly rushing to her aid. 

"Drop your weapons," said Octavia, moving the gun closer to Marina's face, "or she GETS IT!" 

Lucas' hands continued to shake. "I-I-I.. c-can't! If I do it, will you promise to let her go and leave?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Lucas had a hard time believing her.

Octavia pushed the gun back into Marina's face, "Drop the weapon!" Marina choked out.

Lucas didn't have a choice. He quickly did so, tossing his Hero Shot onto the ground.

Octavia furiously pushed the gun ever further into Marina's face, "ALL OF THEM!!!" she shrieked. Lucas terrifyingly threw every weapon he had out of his pockets, then he held his hands up in surrender.

"Okay okay," Lucas said, his hearts nearly beating out of his chest, "Just please don't hurt her." His eyes started to tear. Octavia didn't check to see that Marie was reaching for her Hero Shot, but she hesitated and moved her hand back. If she tried to shoot Octavia now, she'd risk hitting Marina as well. Octavia hesitated for a while. Marina was running out of breath, her choking grew more and more quiet and short, and Lucas grew more and more worried. Suddenly, Octavia finally dropped Marina onto the ground. The inklings let out a sigh of relief. Marina inhaled deeply, then started coughing, then started crying. She crawled over into Lucas' arms as he calmed her down and reassured her that she was okay. "Now, as promised," Lucas' said angrily, glaring at Octavia, "leave this place, and never come back!"

"Yeah, about that," Octavia said, pointing her gun at Marina, "I changed my mind!" Lucas and Marina hugged each other in fear, pinned against the couch. "I had a job to do when I came here, and I'm not leaving until it's done! I have more than one dart you know, I can kill all of you, but I'm taking out my main target first!" Lucas held Marina closer, and when he did, she quietly, scaredly whispered into his ear.

"Lucas..." she said, "Use a bomb, I'll make a distraction."

"B-but what if the blast hits you"

"Don't worry, we'll run, and make it out just in ti-"

"HEY!" Octavia interrupted, as the inkling and octoling jumped, "What are you whispering about? Are you trying to stop me? You don't stand a chance, no one can stop me!"

Marina looked out of the corner of her eye and saw that Marie had her Charger in hand. Marie sensed what she had to do. "Now Marie!" Marina shouted. Marie charged up her gun, and Octavia noticed the laser that pointed out from the gun, and she turned around.

"HEY!" she shouted, "You wanna die first?!" She pointed the gun at Marie. Lucas knew this was the time. He whipped out an Auto Bomb and dropped it on the ground right next to Octavia. When the beep sounded, Lucas and Marina ran away. Octavia looked around confused at all the noises, and then she looked down and saw the bomb. "Huh? OH-" Before she could even take a step,  **SPLAT!!!** The bomb exploded and Octavia's spirit floated into the sky.

"YES!!!!!" Lucas and Marina shouted, hugging and spinning around. Everyone cheered.

"WE DID IT!" said Marina.

"Yeah!!" said Lucas. They both giggled and looked at each other. "Now, where were we?" The two leaned into each other and kissed.

(BOOM! HAHA IT HAPPENED!!!)

They embraced each other, closing their eyes passionately as their lips overlapped. It. Felt. Great. Callie and Marie stared in surprise. Marina put her face into her hand and smiled, "Oh my cod..." she said, shaking her head. Callie was still watching, savoring the moment, until Marie tried to block her eyes. "No, no..." she said. 

When Lucas and Marina stopped kissing, they looked at each other and said, "Wow..."

"That was... amazing," said Marina.

"Yeah..." said Lucas, more amazed, having never kissed a girl before. Then he blushed and covered his mouth. "My breath didn't smell bad, did it?" he asked.

Marina cracked up and hugged him. Lucas smiled and hugged back. "You're okay now, right?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah," she responded, "I mean, my clothes are a bit scratched up, but I have extras, don't worry."

"Oh, you do?"

"Yeah! What, you think I wear the same outfit every day?"

"Uhh... yes?..." Lucas said, slightly embarrassed at his ignorance. Everyone laughed. 

"Marie always wears the same outfit," Callie joked.

Marie lightly punched Callie in the arm and chuckled. "Shut up," she said.

Marina came over and hugged the two. "Ohhh thank you, thank you guys so much!" They hugged back.

Lucas joined the hug. "Yeah," he said, "We couldn't have possibly gotten past all those enemies without you guys!"

"Awww, no problem, we're just trying to protect the citizens of Inkopolis," said Marie.

"Stay safe you two, and have fun!" said Callie.

Lucas and Marina waved bye, until Marina suddenly remembered, "Oh wait!" she said, "This chip is still stuck in my head. I should be able to transform again if we just remove it." Lucas and Marina grabbed the chip and slowly pulled it out of Marina's head. She winced and yelped in pain as this happened, but soon it was out. Lucas threw it onto the ground, and Marina kicked it off of the island.

Lucas noticed that the punctures where the chip was inserted were bleeding on the back of Marina's head. "Uh oh! You're bleeding," he pointed out.

"Don't worry," said Marie. She went into the cabin and came out with a large square-shaped bandage, "I got you." She placed the bandage onto the back of Marina's head and smoothed it out. The cuts were underneath one of Marina's back tentacles, so it covered up the bandage so you couldn't see it. "All better," said Marie.

"Thanks," said Marina, smiling, "It should heal eventually."

"Welp, goodbye guys!" said Lucas. Everyone waved bye, and he and Marina held hands and walked back to the manhole. While walking out, Marina looked at DJ Octavio, who was inside the snowglobe the entire time, watching the whole thing, not saying a word. They just stared at each other, awkwardly, until Marina and Lucas submerged into the manhole and went back to Inkopolis Square. 

Callie sighed and sat back down in her usual spot by the cabin. "What's wrong?" her cousin asked, concerned.

"Aw nothin'," said Callie, "It's just... I really liked Agent 4..."

Marina immediately felt empathetic, and put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Me too..." They both sighed, then Marie continued, "But, as long as he's happy... we're happy, right?"

"Heh, yeah, right," said Callie, turning to Marie and smiling, "and I'm happy that I get to be with you."

"Awww!" The two of them hugged, then Octavio  made an 'ugh' sound and said, "get a room you two!"

The Squid sisters looked at him, unamused. He looked away, and thought for a moment, what would become of his long lost Octoling...

* * *

 

Octavia's octoling spirit swirled back down to a respawn point, somewhere in Octo Canyon, far from Tentakeel Outpost. She gritted her teeth and stomped her feet on the ground. "NO NO NO!!!!" she yelled in fury, "I WAS SO CLOSE!!!" She looked to the sky and shouted, "THIS ISN'T OVER MARINA, WE'LL BE BACK, AND WE WILL STOP AT NOTH-"

"GET OVER IT!" yelled Tenessa, "We are NOT doing this again!"

"But Marina is still out there!"

"Yeah, but who knows where she is now?! She's probably gonna move away from Inkopolis, we can't track her down anymore. Her whereabouts are once again unknown..." The other soldiers who respawned nodded in agreement.

"W-we can get back while we still have the time-"

"No we can't, they probably sealed the exit too. She knows that she shouldn't be left alone in that Grizzco place anymore, we'll _never_ get to her without causing a scene! Please, just let her go, chief!"

"HEY!! I give the orders around here!"

"I refuse to take orders from a child!"

"CHILD?! WHY YOU- DO YOU  _WANT_ ME TO GET ANOTHER POISON DART?!?!"

"CHIEF!!!"

Octavia raised her finger to speak, but she hesitated and put her hand down, grunting. She clenched her fists, her veins clearly visible, she was still frustrated.

"Look the bright side, nobody was killed. Every soldier has safely respawned. And listen, maybe Marina will just suffer up there on her own. You know how awful the inklings are, right?"

"...Yes."

"Don't waste your time, we don't need Marina, but we don't need to kill her." Octavia looked down and sighed. Tenessa continued, "Let's just forget about her. If she would rather be stuck up there with those monstrous inklings, then that's her problem. Please, chief, let's not put our soldiers out there like this." 

"..."

"C'mon, we can breed a better Octoling, a whole new generation, one better than she could ever be!" Everyone yeah-ed in the background

"...You're right, we've got the tech, we can do this!"

"But for now, let's rest easy for a while."

"Okay..." Octavia sat down on a nearby chair. She was calm, but her mind still raced. She wondered if she might disappear like all those octolings did that fateful night... the concert she never attended.

 

 


	10. Safe and Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucas and Marina make it back to Inkopolis Square, and Pearl and Henry are happy to see that they're safe. And this leads to the conclusion of this glorious love story...

Pearl and Henry were still sitting over by the sewer grate. Pearl whimpered and was a bit teary-eyed, as she worried deeply for the return of Marina. Henry spent the past several minutes since Lucas left trying to comfort her. 

"I just, like..." Pearl sniffled, "I don't know what I'm gonna do without her..."

"Hey, it's gonna be okay," said Henry, patting her shoulder, "I'm sure everything will turn out okay. I know Lucas would never let anything bad happen to her."

A few minutes past when finally, Lucas and Marina emerged from the sewer grate. Lucas was changed back into his regular clothes, Marina was still in her studio outfit, very slightly tattered up. Henry and Pearl looked up and gasped. They were okay! 

"Marina!" Pearl yelled, jumping from her seat and running towards her.

"Pearl!" Marina yelled, holding her arms out wide. The inkling leaped into her friend's arms, as Marina had her up and spun around. The smiled and closed their eyes as they embraced each other. Lucas smiled as he watched them, then saw Henry walking up to him.

"You alright, man?" said Henry.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lucas replied.

"Okay, good." Henry hugged him, and Lucas hugged back. They both looked and saw that Marina and Pearl were still hugging. Pearl cried in her arms.

"I was so worried," she said, looking into MArina's eyes, "Don't EVER scare me like that again!"

"I won't, I promise!" said Marina, as Pearl buried her face back into the octoling's chest. Marina kissed her forehead, and the inkling smiled and laughed a bit. She put down Pearl then looked over to Lucas, who looked slightly confused and concerned. "Oh, it's just a friendly thing we do, don't worry Lucas."

"Oh, okay," said Lucas. The couple walked towards each other and held hands, and smiled.

"So what the heck happened down there?" Pearl said. Lucas and Marina got concerned. They couldn't talk about the NSS or the octolings.

After a few seconds of "uhh" ing, Marina spoke out, "It's a long story, but, in the end..." she leaned into Lucas, "Lucas here saved my life...!" Lucas smiled and wrapped his arm around her.

Pearl and Henry stared in shock. "You DID?!" Pearl shouted.

"Awesome job man!" said Henry, legitimately impressed.

Pearl walked over to Lucas and looked up at him. He stared down confused, then suddenly, Pearl hugged him tightly. "Thank you!..." she said, burying her face in his sweatshirt. Lucas hugged her back "Seriously though, I'm  _nothing_ without Marina!"

"Aww that's not true," he replied, "you'll still always be Pearl."

"Yeah, I just meant, like, it's not Off the Hook without the two of us, and, well... you know, I really care about her a lot." Marina 'awwed' in the background.

"Heh, yeah, I really care about her two. In fact, that's what motivated me to save her," he walked over to Marina and held her hands, "my love for her..." The two blushed.

"So you finally confessed?" Henry asked.

"You bet! You mean the world to me, Marina. You're my everything!"

"Awww," Marina laughed, "you're too much!" The two leaned in and kissed.

Pearl and Henry did not see this coming. Pearl gasped and clasped her hands over her mouth. Henry just stared with his jaw dropped and said, "NO... WAY!..." A few other passersby also saw they were just as surprised. When the two were done kissing, they giggled and looked into each other, then they looked over at Pearl and Henry, who were staring, flabbergasted. 

Lucas and Marina immediately blushed and made several embarrassed noises. Pearl's excitement started to escalate, as her voice's pitch rose from behind her hands, and she started tapping her feet on the ground until she could no longer contain herself. She squealed and leaped into Marina's arms once again. "AAAH!!" she yelled, "Marina! You got your first kiss!!"

The two laughed. "Technically it's my second kiss," Marina said.

"Even better!" 

"Two times on the same day?!" said Henry, as he approached Henry, "Dude! Way to go! You never fail to impress me!"

"Awww thanks, bro," Lucas replied, as the two hugged.

Everyone was happy and ecstatic, what a day it was.

"Now c'mon," said Pearl, "let's go eat!"

The four friends happily walked over to the food truck. The sun was setting up above, painting the sky in vibrant warm colors. The Great Zapfish swam overhead. Marina watched as it gracefully slithered across the sky. "This place is so beautiful..." said Marina.

"Just like you, Marina," Lucas replied, "just like you..."

The two smiled, hand in hand.

THE END.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOHOO It'S FINALLY OVER!! Thank you all SO MUCH for sticking around to see this journey grow. I want to thank a few people. I'd love to thank my twitter friends: Octo Sam on Twitter for letting me use his OC in the story,  
> Tako for helping with grammar in the first few chapters, and Aeon1king and especially Currycheesecake for helping me with story development and being so supportive. I'd also love to give a big fat thank you to iNikiStar and Joshua for being the most supportive people in the world. Thank you for actually loving and my story, I love you all for that. Thank you to all of my followers and fans on Twitter for your motivation. This wouldn't have happened without you guys. I'm so glad my fantasy could become a reality. Dreams really do come true... Thank you! :)


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